Harry Potter and the Slayer
by becks89
Summary: -On hold-Buffy, Willow and the whole Harry Potter gang go to Hogwarts and become best friends. Then, in their sixth year, when Voldemort is back, terrible things starts to happen, its a war-but who will win it? Please review! CHAPTER 11 UP!
1. Slayers and London baby!

I Apologise for the bad title.  
  
Disclaimer: Harry potter belongs to J.K Rowling (brilliant woman, gotta love her) and Buffy belongs to the genius that is Joss Whedon and his whole wicked crew.  
  
Notes: Buffy becomes a slayer when she is eleven, I know its young, but it had to fit with harry and his gang, so sorry if it causes problems. Angel will probably crop up somewhere, stealthy as usual, but I don't know if buff and angel will date and stuff.  
  
I don't actually know where this is going, this fic was written ages ago, so I cant remember what I was going to do with it, but ill get it back on its feet again, cos I already written 50 pages.  
  
Sorry for all the babbling and rambling. Please review!  
  
1. Beginnings  
  
16th March in California, LA  
  
Buffy Summers walked quickly down the busy main road, bags hanging from her arms. She had gone on a rather expensive shopping trip that day, spending daddy's money. She was only eleven years old, but her parents trusted her to go out on her own as long as she was back by dusk and if a cop was nearby. Buffy had moaned and protested about this rule, telling her parents that her friends were allowed to stay out till eight. Buffy knew that this wasn't true, her friends had to be back by six every day, but that didn't matter, she was eleven years old for goodness sake! She was perfectly mature enough to stay out late. She had never won the argument about her curfew times, but she still had a major rant about it once a week to her mother. Buffy rounded the corner and bumped in a large man with brown hair and a small moustache.  
  
"Buffy Summers." The man drawled in an English accent. Buffy froze, gazing at the man wondering if she should run or stay still.  
  
"How do you know who I am?" She asked, getting ready to run.  
  
"I have to talk to you, it is very important." The man said, leading the small blond into a near coffee shop. Buffy went with the man, she was a friendly girl, and all the rules about not talking to strangers were forgotten.  
  
"What about?" She said sweetly, sitting on a small round table.  
  
"I'm John Sayer, from the Watcher's council in England."  
  
**  
Three months later, LA.  
  
Buffy casually walked down the stairs, the ends of her pajama bottoms trailing along the steps behind her. She walked into the kitchen where her mother, Joyce Summers, was making toast.  
  
"Morning sweetie." Joyce said, as Buffy kissed her mother on her cheek. Buffy mumbled something which Joyce couldn't understand and flopped down on the breakfast chair, slumping in her seat, her eyes threatening to close. Buffy was the slayer, she had been for three months. Her watcher, John Sayer had been an annoying English man, dressed every day in that disgusting tweed. John Sayer, however had died five days ago, killed by a vampire right in front of Buffy. She still couldn't get the picture of John's dead face out of her mind, every time she closed her eyes; he would appear, glassy eyes staring right into her blue ones, puncture marks at the side of his neck.  
  
"Morning Buffy." Her father said, entering the kitchen. He sat down immediately, casting a disappointed look at Buffy. Buffy sighed; her parents still hadn't forgiven her for that teeny weenie fire at her school. Her parents didn't know about vampires, and the fact that she was the slayer, so they couldn't understand that she had gotten into fights at school with larger boys who picked on smaller ones, they didn't understand when she came home late at night, her clothes ripped and dirty, and they certainly didn't understand that she had to set fire to the school gym. Her mother and father had been both ashamed also when Buffy was arrested on account of John's murder. Because the cops had no evidence, they had to let Buffy go, but most of her friends and teachers were still wary of her, and her parents hardly talked about it, only asking occasionally if Buffy knew anything. Buffy couldn't tell anyone the truth, that there had been vampires in the school and that vampires had killed John, and as a result, she had gotten expelled. Her mother was being nicer about it than her dad, her dad kept on giving her lectures about vandalism and punishments, while her mother had just said that she was disappointed, and that she had expected better from Buffy. Her parents were now in a worry about where she would go to school, and they had had an argument about it the night before.  
  
"There's a letter for you Buffy." Her father said, holding out the yellow envelope. Buffy took it curiously, reading the emerald green writing on the front.  
  
Miss B. Summers 12 Crescent Drives LA California USA.  
  
She opened it, pulling out the letter and reading it out loud.  
  
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
  
Dear Miss Summers, We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in England. As you may not know, you are a witch, and as there are no schools in California for witches, we have decided to accept you to our school. Please find a list enclosed of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your letter no later than 31st July.  
  
Yours Sincerely Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress."  
  
Buffy finished, staring bewildered at her equally astonished parents. Her mother was the first to speak.  
  
"Sounds like a good idea."  
  
**  
28th of August, Heathrow Airport, Terminal 3.  
  
Buffy stepped out of the airport into the warm air. She cast a look around her, taking in the cute black taxis and the large car park in front of her. Her parents came out behind her, pushing a trolley with Buffy's luggage on it. Buffy herself had a trolley carrying more of her luggage and a small suitcase belonging to her parents. Her father hauled a taxi and loaded the entire luggage onto it. Once everyone and everything was in the taxi, her father gave the address and they set off. The journey took them into central London, so Buffy could see Hyde Park, Marble Arch and Oxford and Regent street. Before long they had arrived at a small bookshop. The Summers got out and paid the driver. They turned to the Leaky Cauldron, a grimy small pub. They walked inside and were greeted with the smell of butter and pipe smoke. The pub was small and dark, a couple of witches grouped around a small table, a bottle of whiskey in the middle of it. An old wizard stood at the bar, drowning his sorrows in a large pint of beer. A large roaring fire blazed from an open fireplace in the corner. Buffy turned to the barman, a toothy smile greeting her. She smiled back and walked to the man.  
  
"Hi, we have reservations for Summers."  
  
**  
30th August, Leaky Cauldron, London. Her room was nice and cozy, a single bed with deep red covers and a wooden frame. The wardrobe was a large antique one, and the bathroom was nice and quaint. The most interesting thing was the dresser, with a large mirror that talked back to you when you looked at it. Buffy dressed in her knee length skirt and red spaghetti top. She smiled at herself in the mirror, pleased at her reflection. Her blonde wavy hair shaped her oval pale face, her blue eyes sparkled, her figure was thin and muscular, the body of a slayer. Her watcher had told her that she was the youngest slayer in history, and he had been surprised that Buffy had lasted for more than a week.  
  
"You look beautiful dear." The mirror said sleepily. Buffy grinned and skipped out of her room, the supply list that she needed for Hogwarts and her money in her bag. She galloped down the stairs to be greeted by Tom, the innkeeper and the barman she had met the first night.  
  
"Hey Buffy, what you doing today?" Tom said, polishing his glasses and setting them on the hooks that were nailed on the frame above him.  
  
"I'm going to Diagon Alley." Buffy said, sitting down in front of him.  
  
"By yourself?" Tom asked curiously. Buffy nodded a smile on her face. It quickly turned into a frown.  
  
"My parents are going sightseeing. Uh, how do I get to Diagon Alley?" She asked, blushing at her ignorance. Tom smiled his familiar crooked smile, glancing fondly at the girl. Buffy had a certain quality that was completely likeable, she was confident, friendly and bubbly. Her parents however, were quite unusual. Her mother, even though she was pretty and bubbly like Buffy, was completely subdued around her husband. Hank was a tall intimidating man, and he seemed not to care about Buffy, or his wife. From what Buffy had told him, her parents were arguing a lot, about her, and usually, the arguments ended with Joyce in tears.  
  
"How about I send someone with you?" Tom said, snapping out of his thoughts.  
  
"Who would want to take me?" Buffy asked. Tom winked at the girl.  
  
"Lots of people would be glad to take you my dear girl." Tom said. Buffy smiled an uplifting smile that caused Tom to grin even more. Catching sight of a large man entering the pub, he called out to him, and the man neared Buffy and Tom. The man was large, about 9ft tall. His brown hair was tangled around his face, his beard covering his mouth and his beady dark eyes sparkled behind his shaggy mane. Buffy stared in amazement at the man, her jaw almost hitting the floor.  
  
"Hagrid mate, what you doing today?" Tom asked, grinning at Buffy's reaction.  
  
"Nofing mate, why d'ya ask?" Hagrid replied.  
  
"Can you take Buffy around Diagon Alley; she has to get her things for Hogwarts." Tom said, jerking his head to the small girl. Hagrid peered down at the girl and smiled.  
  
"Yer first year I take it?" Hagrid said, grinning at the girl. Buffy nodded, smiling at the friendly man.  
  
"I'm Buffy, nice to meet you." She said, sticking out her hand. Hagrid shook it, his grip gentle and soft.  
  
"Nice to meet yer too Buffy. Yer got yer money?" Buffy nodded, holding up her bag and shaking it, wizard money jingling. "Righ', see yer later Tom." Hagrid said, walking to the back door.  
  
"Bye Tom!" Buffy said loudly, waving at him and following Hagrid out of the door. The odd looking pair stepped out into a sun filled courtyard, rubbish lying in heaps at the corners and weeds growing widely near the wall. Buffy stopped as soon as she caught sight of the large red brick wall. "Uh- Hagrid, that's a wall. How we supposed to get to Diagon Alley?" She asked, confusion written deep in her face. Hagrid just chuckled and took out a pink umbrella and pointed at the wall.  
  
"Three up...Two across." Hagrid muttered, tapping on the bricks with his umbrella. The brick wriggled in its place and moved, the surrounding bricks moving with it. Buffy watched in amazement as the bricks moved back to form a perfect archway. "Welcome to Diagon Alley." Hagrid said, walking through the archway.  
  
Buffy followed him, her mouth open in astonishment. It was amazing, the long street was packed with witches and wizards, bustling busily around with bags in their hands. There were shops selling everything, cauldrons, potions, ingredients which was packaged in large or small glass bottles, the contents disgusting and slimy looking. There was a large group of young boys and girls crowded around a window, all gossiping about the Nimbus Two Thousand. Buffy and Hagrid stopped outside a large shop, blinds drawn over the window and the gold peeling letters over the wooden door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.  
  
Buffy walked in first, greeted by an old musty smell and a large shelf that reached up to the ceiling stacked with small boxes.  
  
"Good morning." A soft voice said from a corner. The man appeared out of the shadow, old, white hair sticking out in different directions from his head. Despite his appearance, Buffy got the feeling that the man was of importance and was respected greatly.  
  
"Hi." Buffy said nervously, shifting from foot to foot under the curious gaze of the man. The bell above the door tinkled again, and Hagrid stepped in.  
  
"Morning Hagrid." Mr. Ollivander said in the same soft voice that sent shivers done Buffy's spine.  
  
"Mornin' Mr. Ollivander." Hagrid greeted, a nervous smile appearing from behind his bushy hair.  
  
"I trust Mr. Potter got home all right?" Mr. Ollivander, referring to the small boy that Hagrid had brought in almost a month ago. Hagrid nodded. Mr. Ollivander smiled and then turned back to Buffy.  
  
"What wand hand are you miss?" He said, taking out his measuring tape from his waistcoat pocket.  
  
"Uh... I'm right handed if that's what you mean." Buffy said, sticking out her right arm. Mr. Ollivander smiled and measured her arm. When he finished, he walked over to one of the shelves and took out a small box.  
  
"Try this one, nine inches, dragon heartstring. Made of pewter." He said, removing the wand and placing it in Buffy's hand. Buffy took it, feeling rather stupid when nothing happened.  
  
"Give it a wave." Hagrid said. Buffy did so, feeling even more stupid when still, nothing happened. Mr. Ollivander took the wand from Buffy and placed it on his desk. He then picked up another wand and gave it to Buffy.  
  
"Ten inches, unicorn hair, slightly more powerful than the dragon heartstring." He said. Buffy gave it another wave, and still nothing happened. "Hmm, curious." Mr. Ollivander said. Buffy tried more and more wands, the pile on the desk growing more and more.  
  
"Hmm, tricky customer. Hasn't had a customer like this since Harry Potter." Mr. Ollivander said. Buffy raised her eyebrow, wondering who this Harry Potter was and why Mr. Ollivander kept on mentioning him.  
  
He walked quickly to the back and retrieved an old box, with a thick layer of dust on the top. He removed the wand and gave it to Buffy.  
  
"Thirteen and a half inches. Phoenix feather, mahogany. Very powerful this wand." Mr. Ollivander said. Buffy took the wand and waved it, causing a few gold and red sparks to fly from the tip. "Ah, we need something more powerful." He said, taking the wand and putting it on the desk. He stopped and turned to Buffy. "Tell me about yourself Buffy. Do you have magical parents?" He asked.  
  
"No, their muggles." She said, remembering the word from when Tom had used it yesterday. Mr. Ollivander looked surprised.  
  
"I wonder how a girl so powerful can have muggle parents." Mr. Ollivander said, bewildered. Buffy looked at Hagrid, finding that he too was looking at her rather strangely.  
  
"How powerful Mr. Ollivander?" Hagrid squeaked nervously.  
  
"I should think more powerful than You-know-who." He said. Hagrid squeaked again.  
  
"You-know-who who?" Buffy asked, confused.  
  
"Voldemort. Very powerful wizard miss. Killed thousands of muggles and magic folk. Terrorized the world for years." Mr. Ollivander said a terrified look on his face. Buffy gulped, how could she be more powerful than a man who had killed and tortured people for years? It wasn't like her.  
  
"What happened to him?" Buffy asked, nervously. Mr. Ollivander smiled, the terrified look from his face disappearing.  
  
"A young boy, Harry Potter defeated him." He said.  
  
"Oh." Buffy said, not knowing what else to say. Mr. Ollivander cleared his throat and walked closer to Buffy.  
  
"May I ask, and please tell the truth, is there something unusual about you, different maybe, that sets you apart from other people." Mr. Ollivander asked. Buffy looked again at Hagrid and he nodded. Buffy thought quickly, what was different about her? It then clicked.  
  
"I'm the slayer." She said. Hagrid and Mr. Ollivander gasped, surprised.  
  
"But, yer so young!" Hagrid said, an amazed and proud look on his face.  
  
"Yeah, youngest slayer in history." She said, drawing herself up proudly. Mr. Ollivander suddenly looked very pleased with himself and bustled to the back, disappearing from sight. He returned a couple of minutes later, carrying a red box with a very thick layer of dust on the top. He removed the top carefully and gingerly took out the beautiful long slender red wand.  
  
"This is the most powerful wand that I have ever made. Unusual substance, this one, slayer hair and blood, thirteen inches. Yew." Mr. Ollivander said, holding out the wand to Buffy.  
  
She took it, and regarded it for a moment. She felt warmth rush through her fingers as soon as she had touched it. She raised the wand high above her head and brought it down, causing gold, red and black sparks to shower from the tips, setting the whole room in a beautiful red and gold light. Hagrid whooped and cheered for her and Mr. Ollivander clapped happily. Buffy grinned, knowing that this wand was the one.  
  
"Well done Buffy." Hagrid said, a grin matching hers. Mr. Ollivander took the wand and put it back in the box, wrapping it in brown paper. He finished, giving the box to Buffy.  
  
"Great things can be achieved with that wand, greater things than You-know- who. Use your power wisely, I would hate for a power like yours to be wasted on darkness and evil." He said. Buffy nodded awkwardly and paid the man nine Galleons and walked out of the shop.  
  
"Woah that majorly wigged." Buffy said, following Hagrid up to the street to collect her parchment and quills. They did so, Buffy getting a pretty pinkish quill and fancy parchment. They then walked into a bookstore, where Buffy got her books. It was amazing, small books the size of postage stamps and large books half the size of an English Mini car. Buffy browsed through the books and found an amazing new book all about vampire slayers. She flicked through the book, glancing at the stories of the slayers and at the very back; she was surprised to find her picture.  
  
"Look Hagrid!" She yelled, causing the many people in the shop to look at her. "I'm in this book!" She said whispered, gazing around at all the people around her.  
  
"Wha' book is that?" Hagrid whispered.  
  
"Vampire's and their slayers by Melinda Bogle. It has my picture, and it says that I'm the youngest slayer in history. That's so cool!" She exclaimed happily.  
  
"Your the slayer?" A young assistant who was standing close by asked.  
  
"Uh, no." She lied, extremely badly. With a quick grin, she quickly purchased her books from the very confused assistant and ran outside.  
  
Once they had gotten everything, Hagrid told Buffy that Hogwarts were allowed to have a pet. Because toads were out of fashion and because Hagrid was allergic to cats, Hagrid got Buffy an owl for her birthday which was on the 1st of September. It was a beautiful owl, a wonderful snowy white owl with what looked like a halo on the owl's head. She named the owl Angel, as she thought he did look like own because of the ring of lighter hair which looked like a halo. All that was left now was to get her robes. Hagrid needed to get some things from Knockturn Alley ("Horrible place, I don't ever want ter see yeh go down there, Buffy. I told the same ter Harry, and both of yeh should never go there.") and he had left Buffy to collect her robes from Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Buffy entered the shop, gazing around at all the robes.  
  
"Hogwarts, dear?" A small smiling witch asked, peering at Buffy. Buffy nodded. "I've got another one here; stand on that stool, next to the red- head." Buffy did so, smiling at a girl her age with bright red hair and smiling hazel eyes. Madame Malkin slipped a robe on Buffy and started to alter.  
  
"Is it your first year too?" Buffy asked the young girl. The red head nodded.  
  
"I don't understand much of this." The red head said. Buffy grinned and nodded, glad that someone was feeling the same thing she was.  
  
"Neither do I. I'm Buffy by the way, Buffy Summers." She said, holding out her hand. The red head smiled and shook Buffy's hand.  
  
"Willow Rosenberg. Nice to meet you." She said, her smile growing wider.  
  
"You've got an American accent!" Buffy noticed.  
  
"Yeah, I'm from Sunnydale in California. What about you?"  
  
"LA."  
  
"Wow! Was it cool in LA?" She asked excitedly. Buffy nodded.  
  
"The best. I was kinda sad to leave it though."  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean, but my friends, Xander and Jesse said they'll write and stuff and their really pleased for me you know, but I don't think they actually know and understand why I'm coming here, they know I like magic and stuff, but they never really realized that I'll take it far you know?" Willow babbled. Buffy grinned and Willow looked crestfallen. "Oh, I'm babbling aren't I? I always babble when I'm nervous, and I'm really nervous because the train leaves tomorrow and then we go to Hogwarts and I'm really nervous and I'm babbling again aren't I?" She said quickly. Buffy giggled at the cute ramblings of the girl.  
  
"So you know about magic do you? I just found out, my parents are clueless." Buffy explained. Willow shook her head.  
  
"My parents didn't know about magic, and I didn't know about the wand magic, but I experimented with wand less magic, I'm not that bad, so I think that's why they asked me to come." Willow said.  
  
"It's kinda odd, that they ask two of us to come half way across the world for school, don't you think? I was talking to Tom, the barman, and he said they never bring in exchange students. There actually is a school of witchcraft in Nevada." Buffy said. Willow grinned.  
  
"We must be really special then." She said, giggling.  
  
"Right, Buffy, you're done." Madame Malkin said, bringing the two girls back down to earth. Buffy stepped down and paid for her robes. She waved to Willow and stepped outside the shop, to where Hagrid was waiting.  
  
"Righ' that's it. You've got everything." Hagrid said, leading Buffy back through the arch and into the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
"Thanks Hagrid." She said as they entered the pub greeted by the familiar smell of butter and pipe smoke.  
  
"It was my pleasure Buffy. I'll see you at Hogwarts tomorrow then." He said, walking out through the front door. Buffy grinned and sat down at the bar in front of Tom.  
  
"Have a good time then?" Tom asked, catching sight of the young girl. Buffy thought about her day, the bookstore, the wand store and Willow. She grinned at Tom.  
  
"The best." 


	2. Meetings

Notes: Hi everyone thank you so much for your reviews, they were absolutely amazing, and when I got them, I screamed out loud, and started to jump around in my room, so now my parents think im a bit mad.  (just a bit though)

Disclaimer: none of its mine.  And I mean nothing. I don't even have a job, everything I own actually belongs to my mum or dad, so if u try and sue, you will be disappointed.

Sam-453: Hi!!!!!!!!!!!! I have a story now!  2 actually but how kl!  And im sooooo sorry I didn't tell u I was writin, coz I guess I was embarrassed an afraid 2 no wot u would think.  But I aint now, so yay!  Oh and thanks for the review of 'daughter of light and dark' I really appreciate it.  Oh and by the way, update ur bloody story woman!

Manticore-gurl071134: you were my first ever reviewer, so special thanks go to you!

Jaypallas: I aint gonna tell you who just yet, but, Willow will definitely get with someone.

charmedfanatic3000,  Kalystia,  dreamer123,   Anne-Janet,  Roswell428,  fallenadieu: Thanks for all the great reviews!

Now, on with da fic.

"You sure you don't want us to come with you Buffy?" Joyce asked, concern written all over her face.  It was ten to eleven and Buffy and her parents were standing outside the Kings Cross station.  Joyce was wrapped up in her large coat, the English weather too cold for her Californian blood even though it was the end of summer.  Buffy nodded, glancing down at her luggage and Angel who was sitting in his cage, hooting loudly.  Hank kept on looking around, worried that someone they knew would see them with an owl and old fashioned trunks even though they didn't know anyone from London.  Hank sighed, getting highly annoyed at the bird who gave another loud hoot, causing people to stop and stare.

"She'll be fine Joyce, let's go." Hank ordered.  Buffy smiled at her mother and hugged her, taking in her mother's scent and her caring motherly touch.  They pulled apart, tears in Joyce's eyes.  Buffy turned to Hank and hugged him quickly, knowing that her father hardly ever showed emotion.

"Take care Buffy.  Behave, and don't burn anymore buildings down!" Joyce yelled as Buffy walked through the large doors into Kings Cross station.  She pushed her trolley to platform nine and stopped, very confused.  To one side was a large number that said nine on one platform, and there was another large number that said number ten over the next one, but there was no sign which said platform nine and three quarters.  Buffy heart sank, what was she going to do if she going to do if she couldn't find the platform?

"Now what's the platform number?"  Said a woman behind Buffy.

"Nine and three quarters!"  Piped a small girl.  Buffy turned around, to stand in front of six people with red hair.  There were four boys, two of them twins, and small girl and a plump woman, holding the little girls hand.  

"Percy you first." The mother instructed.

Buffy watched with wide eyes as what looked like the oldest boy marching towards the wall in between the two platforms.  As soon as he had reached it, a group of tourists passed by and as soon as you could see the wall again, there was nothing there.  The boy had just...vanished.

"Fred, you next."  The plump woman said. 

"Excuse me."  Buffy said loudly, causing the family to look at her. "It's my first time at Hogwarts, and I, uh, don't know, uh, how to..."

"Get on the platform?" The plump woman asked kindly.  Buffy nodded, feeling rather stupid. "It's Ron's first time too, dear."  She said, gesturing to her youngest son.  He was tall and thin, with hundreds of freckles on his face and blue eyes.  

"Excuse me."  Another young boy said with long black hair, green eyes and glasses.  He was also thin and tall, but not as thin or tall as Ron.  "I don't know how to do it either."  The boy came forwards, pushing his trolley.  The woman nodded fondly and smiled.

"Just watch.  Fred, your next."

"I'm not Fred, I'm George." Said the tall boy. "Honestly, woman, call yourself our mother?  Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred."  Said the boy, winking at Buffy and running towards the wall and disappearing.  His twin followed him, winking at Buffy and vanishing just as Fred had done.

"All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten.  Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important.  Best to do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."  The plump woman said to Buffy and the other boy. "You two can do it together, group effort if you like." Buffy smiled nervously at the black haired boy and positioned herself with her trolley opposite the barrier.  The boy did the same.

"Ok, let's go."  Buffy said, nodding to the boy.  The couple started to run; pushing their trolley's in front of them.  The barrier was getting nearer, closer and closer.  Buffy closed her eyes, the wind rushing through her hair.  She braced herself ready for the impact of the crash.  Waiting, waiting...but it never came.  Buffy and the boy continued to run until they heard loud shouts and voices, smelled smoke and felt the warm rush of autumn air on their faces.  The couple stopped running and Buffy opened her eyes, looking and taking in all the sights.  A beautiful red old fashioned train lay right in front of her eyes, the words _Hogwarts Express _on the train.  Smoke billowed up in the air, making the train seem even more amazing.  Hundreds of people lined the platform, some crying to their loved ones, some laughing and gossiping as they caught up with old friends.  People were starting to load their entire luggage on the train and Buffy walked along it to find an empty compartment.  She walked all the way up the train, passing the black haired boy who was trying to load his luggage onto the train.  But she couldn't find an empty compartment.  She walked back down again, stopping at the compartment where the boy had gotten on to.  The red head twins stood with their family, watching Buffy.  She walked up the steps to the compartment, were she saw the boy sitting by the window, watching the red headed family.

"Do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else is full."  Buffy asked.  Harry's head swiveled round to look at Buffy, having not heard her come in.

"Sure."  He nodded.  Buffy smiled gratefully and stepped out of the train, to where her trunk and owl cage still lay.

"Need a hand?"  The twins asked, walking up to Buffy.  Buffy smiled again.

"Yeah thanks, can you hold this."  She said, giving the boys her owl cage.

"We mean with your trunk, it looks quite heavy."  The twins said.

"Oh yeah thanks."  Buffy said, taking her owl back.  The twins smiled at her, glad that they could show off.  

One twin took one side and the other took the other side and with all their might, they got it 1ft off the ground before they had to give up because it was too heavy. 

"Here."  Buffy said, giving the owl cage to Fred.  She strapped one hand on one handle, and the other on the other handle, and with quite a bit of effort, carried it off the and into the compartment.  She put it on the ground with a thud and grinned at Harry and the twins, who had just watched her carry a heavy trunk that two teenage boys couldn't carry.

"Wow."  The twins said in unison, referring to Buffy's strength.  The two boys averted their gaze and looked at Harry curiously, whose black hair was wiped away from his face.  Their eyes drifted up to the black lightening shaped scar above Harry's eyes.

"It you." One twin said.

"It's him.  I can't believe I'm meeting you."  The other twin responded.

"Who?" Harry asked confused.

"Harry Potter."  

"Oh yes, him.  I mean me! I'm Harry Potter."

The two twins stared at him in amazement and Harry suddenly felt very uncomfortable under their gaze.

"Fred! George!"  Someone outside called.  The twins departed with a large grin and left Buffy and Harry by themselves.

"I'm Buffy Summers by the way."  Sticking out her hand, Harry shook it, her firm grip squeezing his hand.  She sat down next to the window and Harry sat opposite, watching the red headed family.  "I didn't know who you are if that makes you feel better."  Buffy blurted out.

"Hmm?"  Harry asked, shifting his gaze to look at the pretty blonde opposite him.

"I could tell you were a bit uncomfortable just then.  So I'm just telling you I've never heard of you, I don't know if that makes you feel better or worse, but I'm just telling you."  Buffy explained, smiling her smile that could light up a saddened room.  The train started to move and both Buffy and Harry started to watch the scenery pass them.  The compartment door opened and the youngest red head stood at the door, a forced smile on his face.

"Do you mind if I sit here, there isn't anywhere else."  He asked a pleading look on his face.  Buffy smiled and beckoned him in.  Ron sat down next to Buffy and glanced at Harry, his eyes flickering up to his hair line.  The compartment door opened again and the three looked towards it, another red head standing there.

"Willow!"  Buffy exclaimed happily.

"Hey Buffy, do you mind if I sit here, everywhere else is full."  Willow asked, looking to the other two boys.  The three shook their heads and Willow smiled gratefully, sitting down next to Harry.  Buffy watched Willow and Ron, the resemblance between them frightening.

"Hey are you guys related or something?"  Buffy asked.

"I was wondering the same thing."  Harry grinned.

"I don't think so.  What's your name?"  Ron asked, his finger rubbing his nose where a black mark was smudged.

"Willow Rosenberg. You?"  She asked, smiling sweetly.

"Ron Weasley.  Is your dad an accountant?"  Ron asked.  Just then the compartment doors opened again, the two red headed twins standing in the frame.

"Hi, just wanted to introduce- bloody hell, it's another red head!"  One of the twins exclaimed as soon as he caught sight of Willow.  Willow smiled and gave a small wave.

"I'm Fred, he's George.  We're ickle Ronniekins big brothers."  Fred said teasingly, Ron cowering in his seat as he heard his nickname.

"Buffy Summers."  She said, smiling.

"Willow Rosenberg."

"Harry Potter."  At the mention of the famous name, Ron gawped at the owner.

"Right, we just wanted to introduce ourselves.  Bye!"  George said, the twins disappearing as the door fell shut.

"So you're really Harry Potter then?"  Ron asked curiously.  Harry nodded.

"Who's that?"  Willow asked.  "I mean, are you famous or something?"  She asked, blushing at her ignorance.  Buffy thought for a moment, her brain working as she tried to remember where she had heard that name.  It clicked.

"You're the guy that stopped Voldymouth!"  She said, very pleased that she had remembered.

"Yeah, that's me."  Harry said, laughing at Buffy's slaughter of the words.

"Haven't you heard of him before?"  Ron asked, astonished.  Willow and Buffy exchanged glances and shook her head.

"Maybe it's just a wizardry thing, 'cos me and Willow have muggle parents, so we've never heard of magic.  I mean, Willow has, but she did magic without a wand."  Buffy said quickly, not noticing that the door opened again. 

"You can do magic without a wand?"  A brown haired girl with large front teeth said in a snooty accent.  Willow nodded, embarrassed.  "Let's see then." 

Willow nodded and asked to borrow Harry's glasses.  Harry obliged and Willow set them on her lap in front of her.  Concentrating the glasses rose three feet off the air and hovered.  

"Woah."  Buffy said, grinning at Willow's red face.

"It's nothing."  She said, snatching the glasses which floated in mid air and giving them back to Harry.

"That's amazing.  Of course it's not the same magic we're learning in Hogwarts, I expect your magic need more concentration.  I was dead pleased when I got my letter, even though my parents are muggles, they were willing for me to go.  Hogwarts is supposed to be the best school around; I'm ever so excited to go.  I expect I'll be in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor if I'm lucky.  Hufflepuff won't be so bad, but imagine being in Slytherin, wouldn't that be dreadful? I'm Hermione Granger by the way, who are you?"  She said in a rush.  The four seated looked at each other, Buffy looked as if she was going to crack up with laughter.

"Ron Weasley."

"Willow Rosenberg."

"Buffy Summers."

"Harry Potter." 

"Are you really?" Hermione asked, sitting down next to Ron, a seating arrangement that he didn't feel all too comfortable with.

"Last time I checked." Harry said sarcastically, causing Buffy, Ron and Willow to snigger behind their hands.  Hermione scowled and without a word, she got up and left the compartment.

"Anything to eat dears?"  A old plump lady said, arriving outside the compartment pushing a trolley full of goodies.  Harry and Buffy grinned at each other, and everyone save Ron went to the trolley.  It was nothing like normal food, there wasn't any Mars Bars, Walkers or Hershey bars, only a whole load of wizard sweets and chocolates.  The three made sure they got four of everything and went back to Ron, their hands and pockets stocked with food.

"Aren't you going to get anything?"  Willow asked, watching Ron as he gazed longingly at the goodies.  Ron shook his head and held up a very squashed sandwich.  He opened the cling film and peered inside the sandwich.  He scowled.

"Corn beef."  He said to no one in particular.  "Mum always forgets I hate corn beef."  He said, scowling again.  Willow smiled at him, quite taken with the red head.

"Well I love corn beef.  I'll swap you with some of mine."  She said, thrusting a bunch of sweets onto Ron's lap.  He smiled happily at Willow, and the sandwiches were put on an empty seat, forgotten.  The four happily munched their way through cakes and sweets, Harry, Willow and Buffy happily laughing as they found all sorts of things with the goodies, such as cards with wizards on them and bean's that were every flavour.

"So what house do you think you'll be in?"  Ron asked, swallowing some chocolate.

"House?  What house?"  Buffy asked, sipping some water.

"You know, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin." He looked at their clueless faces. "You don't know about the houses do you?"  The three shook their heads.  "Well, people are sorted into all the houses, and you have to take classes and live with them.  That's what Charlie told me."  

"Who's Charlie?"  Willow asked.

"My brother."

"That one that looked all posh and smart?"  Buffy asked, referring to the oldest clan of the Weasley's she had seen.

"No, that's Percy.  He's dead annoying.  I've got five older brothers, Bill, he was head boy at Hogwarts.  Now he's in Eygpt, working for Gringotts.  Charlie, he was the best Quidditch player at Hogwarts for a long time, but he's now off taming dragons.  Percy, he's a prefect, really annoying and smart.  Fred and George, you already met them, then I've got a smaller sister called Ginny."  Ron explained, ticking off his many siblings with his fingers.

"Wow, I'd love to have older brothers."  Harry said, Willow and Buffy nodding in agreement.  Ron shook his head, wincing at the many memories he had of them teasing him or playing pranks on him, or getting him into trouble.  

"It's not that great.  Everything I've got used to belong to them.  Bill's old robes, Charlie's wand and _this_ from Percy."   He stood up, wrappers falling on the floor.  He pulled out a fat grey rat from his jacket pocket.  "He doesn't even do anything."  He complained, sitting back down.  "His name's Scabbers."  

"Well, it's better than being an only child."  Buffy said, referring to Ron's many siblings. "What houses were your family in."

"Gryffindor.  Imagine if I don't get into Gryffindor! My dad will kill me." Ron moaned.  

"I'm sure you'll be able to get in."  Willow reassured.  "My parents don't even understand anything about this school, you're lucky that yours does.  Well, I guess it helps that yours are wizards."  Willow babbled.

"How did your parents take it?" Harry wondered aloud.  Willow shrugged and looked out of the window, watching as mountains and trees flew by.

"It was OK, they were just happy I guess, they really want me to do well.  What about yours?" Willow asked Buffy.  She grinned.

"They didn't really care; they didn't know what school I should go to since I got expelled from the last one."  She said, ignoring the amazed looks on her friends faces.

"What did you do?" Ron asked, breathless.  Buffy shrugged, peering out the window.

"I got into fights, my grades weren't so good, plus there was that whole thing about me setting fire to the school."  Buffy said, grinning at their faces.

"You set fire to your school?"  Harry asked, amazed by this girl.

"Well, it was just the gym."  She defended.

"Why?" Willow asked.

"Why not?"  Buffy said bluntly.  Ron looked at her in awe, new respect forming for the girl.  Wait until Fred and George hears about this! He thought, glad that he was friends with a rebel, a powerful witch and the famous Boy who lived. "Besides, it seriously needed redecorating."  She saw Willow's look, it was torn between awe and shock. "No one got hurt Willow."  She reassured.  Willow sighed in relief and her look changed to awe.

"Hey, you mentioned something about Quidditch, what is that?" Willow asked.  Ron looked at her in amazement.

"You don't know what Quidditch is?" The other three shook their heads.  Ron sighed with happiness and then launched into a full explanation of the game, its players, the rules and the teams.  He told them about the games that he went to with his brothers and the broomsticks that he would like to get if he had the money.  By the time he had finished, Willow Buffy and Harry were completely besotted with the game and were all anticipating the Quidditch season.  The compartment door opened, and it was neither the twins nor Hermione.

Three young boys Buffy's age stood at the door, the one in front with bright blond hair slicked back, blue eyes and a pale complexion.  If you got past the gel and the sneer on his face, the boy was extremely good looking.  Behind him where his thugs, two equally large boys with matching evil grins and fat hands forced into fists by their sides.

"Is it true what their saying, are you really Harry Potter?" The blond boy drawled lazily.  Harry nodded. "Them two are Crabbe and Goyle.  I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."  

Ron gave a slight chuckle and smothered it with a cough.  Malfoy glared at Ron, looking him up and down.

"Think my name's funny do you?  You're no doubt a Weasley, the trademark hair and old batttered robes say it all."  He cast a look at the other red head. "You a Weasley then as well?"  Malfoy sneered.  Willow stiffened, bowing her head under Malfoy's gaze.

"N-no, m-m-my name is W-W-Willow R-Rosenberg."  She stammered nervously.  Malfoy snorted and shifted his gaze to Buffy.  

"Who are you." Malfoy asked, gazing at the pretty blonde.  Buffy scowled at him, her sneer matching his.

"Buffy Summers."  She growled coldly.

"Mudbloods no doubt."  Malfoy sneered.  Buffy felt Ron tense next to her, his hands formed into fists, his teeth clenched.  She placed a hand on his, telling him with that gesture not to lose his cool.  Buffy felt him relax next to him and she sighed with relief.  "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are better than others Potter.  You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort.  I can help you there."  He leaned forward and held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks."  He said coolly. 

Malfoy withdrew his hand and glanced around the room, a small smirk on his lips.

"I'd be careful if I were you Potter.  Unless you're a bit nicer and politer, you'll end up like your parents.  They didn't know what was good for them either.  You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasley's or Hagrid or Mudbloods like those girls and it'll rub off on you."

All four stood up, Willow shaking with anger and Ron's face as red as his hair.

"Say that again." Ron said.

"You going to fight us now?"  Malfoy sneered, his goons grinning and pounding their fists against their other hands.

"Unless you get out now."  Willow said, sounding braver than she was.  She glanced at the three boys, the two bodyguards behind Malfoy grinning evilly, and she winced, knowing that Crabbe and Goyle were bigger, tougher and stronger than all four of them put together.

"Stay out of this Mudblood.  Go back home and cook and clean like girls are meant to."  Malfoy sneered, grinning as Willow bent her head in shame.

Buffy growled and pushed her way to the front of the group, standing inches away from Malfoy.  She was in a rage, so mad at Malfoy who was being rude to them even before they were at school.

"Take it back."  She said coolly.

Malfoy sneered and laughed, his goons laughing with him.  

"What are you going to do little girl?"  He asked, laughing.  Buffy growled again, and in a quick movement, her hand was around his throat and she had pushed him past his goons, out of the compartment and had slammed him up against the train wall.

"You don't want to know."  She said, releasing her grip.  Five doors to her left and six to her right opened, it's occupants coming out and watching the blonde pair.

"You can't hurt me."  Malfoy said, trying to convince himself more than Buffy.  Buffy grinned and cackled evilly.

"Wanna bet?"  She said, inching closer to Malfoy. "Now take it back."  

"No."  He said simply.

"I'll give you my last warning, asshole.  Now take it back."  She yelled.  Malfoy paused, considering her offer.  He then looked around, spotting the twenty odd people who were watching.

"No."  He repeated.  Buffy smiled and stepped back.  With one swift movement, she punched him on the nose and jammed her knee in his gut.  Wincing, Malfoy slid to floor in pain.  The twenty people around her whispered and cheered loudly.  She stooped down and picked Malfoy up by the collar, lifting him high above the ground.  He gazed at her, in shock.  She smiled sweetly and set him down, his feet planted on the floor.

"Told you you should've taken it back."  She smiled, turning around to face Crabbe and Goyle.  "Are you going to move, or do I have to make you do it?" She warned.  Crabbe and Goyle exchanged glances, and in unison, stepped out of the way.  She grinned and walked back into her compartment.  She closed the door behind her and watched as the three faces in front of her turned into wide grins.

"That was bloody brilliant!"  Ron exclaimed, patting Buffy on the back happily.  Willow squealed in delight and hugged Buffy happily, a hug which Buffy accepted gladly.  She pulled back from Buffy after a couple of moments and squealed again.

"That was so cool!  You were just like, take it back, and then he was like, no, and then you were like bam! Pow!" Willow said, punching the air and then kicking it.  The group laughed at Willow's antics.

"How did you learn how to fight like that?" Harry asked, amazed by his new friend.  "Can you do that again?"  He asked, an excited and mischievous glint in his eye.  The group laughed.

"Harry."  Buffy chastised.  Harry grinned sheepishly, and they all turned when the door opened again.

"I can't believe you hit him!"  Hermione exclaimed angrily, bursting into the compartment, her hair in a mess. "You're going to be in so much trouble when we get to Hogwarts!  If you ask me, he's going to hate you for that you know, he'll want revenge."  Hermione warned.

"Well nobody asked you."  Ron said rudely, causing Hermione to glare at him.

"Besides, if he wants revenge, he's welcome to try.  But he won't get it, he'll just get a whole lotta bruises."  Buffy said, grinning at Hermione's shocked face.  With a 'hmph', she turned around and stomped angrily out of the compartment.  She stopped outside the door, staring in front of her.

"We're going to be here soon, you should get changed into your robes."  Hermione said, and with her nose in the air, she walked away.


	3. The Sorting Hat

**A.N: None of its mine I swear!**

**Thank you all for reviewing, I really appreciate the support.**

**Everyone go and read 'its all in the blood' by Sam-453 cos it's brilliant.**

**By the way, I changed Buffy birthday cos I can never remember when it is.**

**I don't know when I'm going to post next cos I've got tons of GCSE coursework (Damn you bloody GCSE's) so I decided I'll treat ya and give you another chapter early.**

**Oh, and you may notice that I got most of my description of the castle from the book, so sorry!**

**ALSO, got to say- ENGLAND RULES!!!!!!!!!! WE WON THE RUGBY WORLD CUP!  AUSTRAILIA, U SUCK (I don't mean it by the way) JONNY WILKINSON, YOU ARE A GOD!!!!!!!**

**So, I glad I got that out of my system.**

****

**Anyways, on with the fic…**

The small group had taken off their jackets and had placed their black robes on their frames.  Willow and Buffy did each other's hair and made themselves look respectable, while Harry and Ron tried to cram all the remaining sweets into their pockets and trunks.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes.  Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."  A voice echoed through the train.  The four smiled at each other and the two red heads left the compartment first, followed by Harry and Buffy.  They squeezed into the small narrow corridor, which was packed with people.  As soon as Harry and Buffy came out, the students around them started to whisper and point.

"I think you're famous now, they're all talking about you."  Harry whispered to Buffy.  She looked around; people were staring at the pair, although not everyone had their eyes on Buffy.

"I think they're looking at you." Buffy whispered back, grinning.  Slowly, the train came to a halt and the students piled out and started to hurry off the platform.  Buffy and her friends moved with the crowd, shivering from the cold night air.  They came to a halt as Buffy heard a familiar voice.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here please! Allright there Harry, Buffy?"  Hagrid yelled, his yellow bright lamp swinging high over their heads.

"Hey Hagrid." Buffy greeted.  Hagrid peered down at the four and smiled.

"Happy birthday Buffy.  Had a good 'un?"  Hagrid asked.  Buffy smiled and nodded.

"It's your birthday?  You didn't tell us!"  Willow exclaimed.  Buffy shrugged, and she received three happy birthday's from her new friends.  The four started to follow Hagrid with the rest of the new students.  They followed him down a narrow dark path.  It was completely quiet; no one whispered or made any sound.

"You'll get ter see Hogwarts in a mo.  Righ' over this bend round here."  Hagrid called to the small first years.  

The narrow path opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake.  From here they could see Hogwarts, a spectacular castle that looked as if it had been plucked out of a fairytale.  It was perched atop a cliff, towering above the lake.  It was a brilliant contrast to the sparkling sky dotted with stars, the castle itself was tall with turrets and fairytale towers, yellow light flowed out of some of the windows, casting a foggy glow on the castle.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid yelled. Buffy and Harry stepped into a boat, to be followed by Willow and Ron who seemed to be getting on like a house on fire.

"Everyone in?" Shouted Hagrid, who had a boat all to himself. "Right then, forward!"  He yelled.

The fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the smooth lake.  Everyone was silent, staring up ahead at the beautiful castle and the starry sky.

"Heads down!" Ordered Hagrid as the boats reached the cliff.  Everyone obeyed and the boats carrried them through the curtain of ivy.  The boats carried on down a dark tunnel until they reached a pebbled under-ground harbour.  Everyone got out of the boats, and after Hagrid checked to see if no one had left anything (a tearful fat boy had lost his toad, but luckily, Hagrid found it in the boat), they walked up the cold stone steps and halted in front of a heavy brown oak door.   He knocked on the door three times, his gigantic fist causing the door to shudder under his weight.  

The door swung open at once.  A tall black-haired witch in emerald robes stood there.  She had a very stern face, cold eyes and a thin lipped smile. 

"Thank you Hagrid.  I will take the first years from here."

She pulled the door open wide and the first years climbed in.  The entrance hall was so big you could fit a house in it.  The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling stretched high above them, a grand staircase in front of them led to upper floors.  Professor McGonagall led the first years across the stone floor.  Loud shouts and voices were heard from a door to their right, but McGonagall led them into a small chamber.   They squeezed in, closer than they would usually.  Buffy was sandwiched between Harry and Ron, Willow sandwiched between Ron and a boy with sandy brown hair.

McGonagall turned around and faced the nervous looking students.

"Welcome to Hogwarts.  Shortly you will be sorted into four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.  Each house has its own history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards.  The Sorting ceremony is very important; the house you will be placed in will become your family.  You will have class with them, sleep in your house dormitory and spend your free time in your house common room.  While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you points, while your rule-breaking will lose them.  These points will be counted at the end of the year, and the house with the most will win the house cup, a great honor.  The Sorting ceremony will begin shortly.  I suggest you smarten yourself up while you are waiting."  Her eyes flickered around the students.   "I shall return when we are ready for you.  Please wait quietly."  

She left the chamber and a nervous whisper broke out among the students.

"How do they sort us?"  Buffy whispered.

"Some sort of test.  Fred says it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking.  I hope he was joking."  Ron added, a worried expression on his face.

"A test? But- but I don't know anything.  I haven't learnt anything!" Willow announced, horrified.

"No one has, Will."  Harry reassured. 

 Willow flashed a nervous smile at Harry, but no one paid attention to Buffy, who was lost deep in her thoughts.  A test? In front of the whole school.  She hadn't even opened a book yet!  Buffy looked anxiously around, relaxing a little when she saw other people looked terrified as well.  Harry seemed to be lost in his thoughts as well, a nervous and scared expression on his face. Harry caught Buffy watching him and forced a smile.

"It will be fine."  Buffy soothed, squeezing his hand.  Harry nodded, watching Hermione as she whispered to anyone who would listen about all the spells she had learnt.  He became more relaxed as Buffy hand squeezed his, some of his nervousness floating away.  

Suddenly, he jumped about a foot in the air when a couple of people behind him screamed.  

"What the-?" Buffy gasped, as she saw what everyone was looking at.  Twenty ghosts had floated through the walls, all gossiping and arguing, not noticing the forty odd students below them.  Pearly white and transparent, their voices started to raise higher, a heated discussion was obviously going on.

"Forgive and forget."  A fat monk said. "I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"

"My dear Friar, haven't we all given Peeves all the chances he deserves?  He gives us a bad name, playing all those ghastly pranks and littering the halls with- I say, what are you doing here?" 

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had noticed the first years.  Nobody answered his question.

"New students!" The Fat Friar said, smiling at them.

"Move along now.  The Sorting Ceremony is about to start."  A sharp voice interrupted. 

 McGonagall had returned.  The ghosts gave a wave and floated away through the opposite wall.

"Follow me."  She instructed.  

She led the large group out of the chamber and into the Entrance hall.  Two great doors where pushed back and the group followed McGonagall into the Great Hall.  It was a large room, the ceiling high above their heads, enchanted to look like the night sky.  Hundreds of candles lit the room, floating above four long tables that stretched the length of the room.  A sea of faces turned to look at them, their eyes following the first years every move.  The tables they were sitting on were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets.  At the top of the hall was a long table where the teachers where sitting.  Mc Gonagall stopped the procession in front of the table, the teachers smiling at them.  Silently, McGonagall placed a stool in front of the first years.  On top of the stool, she placed an old wizards hat.  Everyone stared at the hat.  It seemed to twitch, and then, a rip near the brim of the hat opened wide like a mouth- and the hat started to sing.

_"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me.___

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be.___

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means _

_To achieve their ends.___

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The whole hall burst into applause when the hat finished it's song.  

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Willow.

"That can't be so bad, right?"  She asked.  Ron smiled and shook his head.  Willow sighed happily.

"When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." Said McGonagall.  "Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink faced girl with pigtails stumbled up the steps and put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Shouted the hat.  The table on the right erupted in cheers and clapped as Hannah joined the table.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted again.  Susan sat down next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table erupted in cheers and Terry joined his house.

'Brown, Lavender' became the first Gryffindor and 'Bulstrode, Millicent' became the first Slytherin.  

"Granger, Hermione."

Hermione practically ran to the hat, she jammed it eagerly on her head and waited.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Ron groaned.

After Neville, 'Malfoy, Draco' was called.  The hat had barely touched his head when it shouted 'SLYTHERIN!'.  He smirked happily, and ran off to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry waited as his name was coming close.

"Mclay, Tara!" A small mousy haired girl stumbled up the steps and put the hat on her head.  

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted.  The girl grinned shyly and hurried to her table.

A pair of twin girls were called. 

"Patil!"

"Patil!"

Then;

"Perks, Sally-Anne!"  Then, at last-

"Potter, Harry!"

Hushed whispers broke out in the hall.

"Potter?"

"The Harry Potter!"  

"Bloody hell, the Harry Potter!"

Harry smiled at Buffy, Ron and Willow and stepped forwards, more whispers floating around the hall.  He put the hat on his head and waited.

"GRYFFINDOR!"  It shouted.  Harry grinned and a tremendous uproar was heard.  He grinned at his friends and walked in a daze to the Gryffindor table where people were congratulating him and thumping him on the back.  Harry grinned at the twins and looked up at the high table, grinning at Hagrid who beamed at him.

"Rosenberg, Willow!"  McGonagall announced.

"Good luck Will."  Ron whispered, flashing her a grin.  Buffy smiled and with a small push from Ron, Willow walked up to the stool.  She placed the hat on her head and darkness fell over her eyes.  She waited.

_"Ahh...difficult...very clever, very determined and loyal...very brave as well.  Interesting, you have a lot of power though, I know where you should go...._GRYFFINDOR!"

Willow grinned and happily took off the hat.  Practically skipping her way down to the Gryffindor table, she was greeted by Harry, and overcome with excitement; she hugged a very surprised Harry.  

"Summers, Buffy!"

Buffy smiled nervously at Ron and quickly made her way up the steps.  She put the hat on her head and sat down on the stool, waiting.

_"Hmmm, difficult...very very difficult.__  Quite a pickle I've got myself into, a Slayer is always difficult, where to put you?  Quite a good mind...plenty of courage, very brave girl, but your power comes from dark magic-so difficult, your dark slayer side fighting against your human light side...I think I know where to put you..."_

"SLYTHERIN!"

It rang out through the hall.  Slytherin.  But she can't be in Slytherin! Willow thought desperately.  She's supposed to be in Gryffindor with me and Harry and Ron! Willow thought.  She couldn't understand how someone so nice could go to such an evil power hungry house.  It just wasn't possible, it didn't suit Buffy.  

Slytherin.  The word kept on ringing in Ron's head, over and over again.  The first new friend he had made and she was going to Slytherin.  The house where Voldemort came from.  Where the Death Eaters came from.  She beat up Malfoy for goodness sake, how could she be evil?

Slytherin.  This couldn't be happening.  The coolest girl he had met for ages was going to Slytherin.  The dark house.  It couldn't be possible.  The Sorting Hat must of made a mistake.  Buffy was such a nice person, she didn't deserve to go to the house which had Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle in.  Malfoy looks positively shocked as well.  This is not fair!  Harry thought desperately.

Slytherin.  She must be dreaming.  The hat must be wrong, she was supposed to go to Gryffindor.  With Willow and Harry.  Not to Slytherin with Malfoy.  That slimy git.  She wasn't evil like them!  Buffy looked at the sea of faces, picking up Ron's, Willow's and Harry.  They looked as shocked as she was.  Buffy sighed and removed the hat from her head.  She stood up and placed it on the stool.  She heard quiet cheers from the Slytherin table, word most of got round about what she did to Malfoy, but all she could think about was Ron and Willow and Harry.  Her legs started to move, as if on autopilot.  She walked a few steps, then:

"Wait."  

The hall fell silent.  Buffy turned around, watching the hat.  It was so silent in the hall; you could hear a pin drop.

The rip near the brim opened and it said something.  "I have made a mistake.  Come back."  It said.  Buffy stared at it, shocked.  Her eyes flickered up to McGonagalls.  Hagrids.  The teachers.  They all seemed as shocked as she was.  The hat's decisions was supposed to be final.  Her gaze met McGonagall's.  McGonagall silently questioned her with her eyes, and then Buffy's gaze met an old wizard with long silver hair.  He had blue eyes behind half-moon spectacles.

"Go ahead Miss Summers."  Dumbledore said, his face smiling, but it couldn't hide the complete shock in his eyes.  "Try the hat on again."  

Buffy nodded and slowly advanced to the hat.  She picked it up, sat down on the stool and gingerly placed it on her head, darkness falling over her eyes.  She waited, and then it came, the smooth voice in her ear.

_"Sorry...slayers are just so hard.  Haven't had a slayer in Hogwarts for 500 years, that one confused me as well.   Slytherin is not the place for you, you are too noble and courageous for Slytherin.  I have now chosen the right house for you."_

"GRFFINDOR!"  It shouted.

Buffy sighed with a relief, a genuine smile plastered on her face.  She took off the hat and walked down the steps.  Ron came up to her and they high fived, grinning at each other.  She made her way to the Gryffindor table, which was cheering almost as loudly as they had for Harry.  She grinned at the twins who cat called at her.  Willow then ran up to her as she arrived at their table.  The two girls grinned at each other, and then they hugged happily.  They broke apart and Buffy walked to Harry, who broke into a smile.  They high fived and Buffy squeezed in between Harry and Willow.  

"That never happens.  I think that was the first time the Sorting Hat did that."  Percy said, shouting across Harry.  Buffy raised her eyebrow and winced, not exactly ecstatic that she was the first exception.  She turned her attention onto the Sorting.  There were only three people left now.  

'Turpin, Lisa' became a Ravenclaw, and then it was Ron's turn.  A second after Ron had put the hat on; it shouted "GRYFFINDOR."

Buffy clapped and cheered loudly as Ron made his way down to the Gryffindor table.  Buffy and Willow got up from their seats and as soon as Ron had appeared in front of them, hugged him tightly, knowing that he was turning red from embarrassment.  Buffy and Willow let go of him and Ron sat down, the red colour of his face contrasting with his hair.  

'Zabini, Blaise' became a Slytherin and McGonagall rolled up the scroll she had been reading the names from and took the Sorting Hat away.

Albus Dumbledore stood up and beamed at the silent room.  

"Welcome!"  He said brightly. "Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts.  There is a time for speech making, but this is not it.  Enjoy the food everyone!" Dumbledore finished, sitting back down on his gold throne.  The hall erupted into applause.

"Wow!" Buffy exclaimed.  

"What?"  Asked Harry.  Buffy pointed to the table and Harry followed her gaze. His eyes went wide as he saw what she was pointing to.  The platters that were empty moments before were now filled with food.  Chicken, chips, peas, jacket potatoes, rice, pasta, Bolognese and more things that Harry loved to eat.  He hungrily piled some food on his plate, shoving his food in his mouth.  He hungrily chomped it done like a wolf and swallowed, noticing that Buffy was watching him. "What?"  

Buffy grinned.

"Attractive."  

**AN****//, PLEASE review!**

**Also:**

**ENGLAND RULES!!!!!!!**

**I swear, I'm done now!**


	4. Strange happenings in the summer

Disclaimer: I don't own buffy or Harry potter.

Spoilers: All hp books.  Hardly and buffy.

I know I said I'll take a while, but I got my essays and stuff done really quickly, so I wrote more chapters and decided I should post this!

My friend pointed out to me that I may have lost all the Australian readers after my comment last chapter, so I just want to say-sorry!!  I got a bit big headed!

Thanks for all your reviews, their all amazing, im so grateful for the support!

On with the fic…

Don't forget to review!

Summer after 5th year, Sunnydale.

"I don't see why I have to be the bait!" 

A young, red headed girl poked her head out from a tree, grinning mischievously.  

"Just act like the damsel in distress.  You'll do fine!"  The red head disappeared behind the tree again.

"Fine!"  Shouted the teenage boy, with a mess of curly brown hair on his head. "But if I die, I'm coming back to haunt you!"  

He swung his arms, shivering in the cool night breeze.  It was a Friday night.  The night was pretty young, and where was he?  In a cemetery.  Oh, what a life he led!  And, to top that off, he was playing the damsel in distress!  He shivered, thoroughly annoyed with his so-called best friend who was off doing naughty things behind a tree with her boyfriend.  And who knew where his other friend was?   The young boy pulled on his many layers of clothing on his torso.  His other peers may make fun at him at his school, but he thought it was very practical.  Besides, layers were in!  Weren't they?

"Look out!"  Screamed another girl from somewhere behind the trees.

The boy turned around, only to be knocked down by a large man.  The boy fell to the ground, feeling the hard grass and the earth under his back.  He grimaced as the man on top of him grinned; showing large, very sharp teeth.  Gathering all his strength (which wasn't very much) he pushed the man off him and scrambled to his feet.  Only to get knocked down again.

A short brown haired girl jumped out from behind a bush, her large bushy hair tied up into a ponytail, bright chocolate eyes sparkling in the night.  

"Don't worry, I'm coming!"  She yelled to her friend on the ground.  She brandished a large wooden stake from her trouser pocket and ran as quickly as she could to her friend on the ground.  Using all her strength, she kicked the man off her friend and then punched him in the nose.

The man growled at her, his bumpy forehead shining because of the moonlight.   He grinned, satisfied by the horrified look on the young girl's face.

"Uh, guys?  Help!"  She screamed, before running away from the man.

Two figures stepped out from behind the tree, the girl with red hair strewn across her face and both with very red looks on their faces.  The boy accompanying the girl was shorter than her, with green spiky hair and wolf like features. 

They both ran out, chasing the man who was chasing their friends.

"Stop him!"  The young boy with brown hair said, jumping up from the ground, giving chase also.

The brown haired girl ran as fast as she could, but then her legs started to get weak, her breath coming in short gasps.  And she could hear the man closing in.  

"AHHHHH!"  Shouted someone from behind her, and she stopped and turned around to see what was happening.  The brown haired boy had jumped the big man, which wasn't very clever because then he had been thrown against a tombstone.  Then the green man attacked, punching and kicking with all his might, but after a few seconds, he was thrown into the air also.

The red head grew stopped short, angry that her boyfriend and her best friend had just been beaten up.  Summoning a small amount of her magic from within her, as she had been taught in class, she lifted her hands, and as she did so, then large man lifted off from the ground also.

The man kicked and yelled in the air, but it did no good.  He was soon suspended in mid-air, so he could not move.

"Now!"  Shouted the red head to the other girl.  With a swift movement, the girl thrust her stake into the man's heart, and after moments of doing this, the man disintegrated, turning into dust.

The brown headed girl dusted herself off and then quickly ran to her brown haired friend and helped him up.

"That went well."  Said the green haired boy, grinning.  

"You did your hocus pocus thing too soon Willow!  I was going to kick the guys ass and then you went all Sabrina on me!"   The brown haired boy said, grinning goofily.

"Was that during the unconsciousness or after, Xander?"  Hermione smirked.

"Well, I think we did pretty well."  Willow said, walking out of the cemetery, her hand firmly clasped in her boyfriends.  "And you boys fought brilliantly.  I especially liked your damsel in distress screaming Xander, you got very into character."  

"It was manly screaming I have you know!"  Xander protested.  "Oz, come on, back me up here."  He said turning to the shorter boy.

Oz shrugged.  "I gotta say, I'm sticking with my girl on this one."  Willow grinned and paused to give him a short kiss.

 Hermione grinned, she loved watching Oz and Willow, because they reminded her so much of Ron and herself, minus the fighting of course.  It wasn't easy being the girlfriend of Ron Weasley, especially because of his hot tempered manner and blatant disregard for anything thing educational, but she also loved being his girlfriend, because, when they kissed, it was like nothing she had experienced.  When Hermione had kissed Viktor Krum in her fourth year, it was short and had little emotion behind it.  When she kissed Ron however, every kiss felt like it was her first, so meaningful and passionate, she felt she was floating on cloud nine and that whenever she was with Ron, there were no worries or misery in there world.

"Well, I think from now on, we let Buffy do the slaying, agreed?"  

"Agreed." Chorused everyone.

***

England.

It was dark here.  Cold, wet and dark.  Silence.  A young boy with floppy hair and freckles stood on the cold concrete ground, paralyzed with fear.  It was enormous.  It was terrifying.  And the boy was so scared of it, he couldn't move.  He tried to make his feet work, tried to run away, but the look it seemed to be giving him told him that if he moved, the horrifying thing would jump at him and probably eat him alive.  The boy was so scared that he thought he would never see daylight again.  He would just stay here in this place, glued to the ground, until he was dead.  He would never go outside again.

And then there was light.

So much light that it blinded him and the boy had cover his eyes with his hands.  And that gave the thing a chance.  A chance that it had been waiting for ever since the boy had stepped into it's lair.  Into it's private sanctuary.

"Aw, is little Ronniekins scared of a spider?"  The spider quickly scuttled away, further into the dark, where he would not be found again.

"I am not scared!"  Ron said, running quickly out of the garden shed past Ginny into the garden.  Ginny laughed.

"So is that why you've been in that shed for fifteen minutes?  Mum only told you to get a broom!"  

Ron turned to face Ginny, his face the colour of his head.  Ok, so maybe he was a little scared.  But that was a bloody massive spider!  And the legs…uh, he did not want to think about that.  Ron shuddered.

"I was not scared.  I just…just couldn't find the broom!"  Ron argued.  Ginny snorted and went inside the shed, coming out moments later with a broom.

"It was right by the door!"  She said, throwing Ron the broom and heading back to the house.  Ron followed her, angry that he had been caught acting like a baby in front of his little sister.  He had faced a lot more dangerous things than a spider.  Like Voldemort.   Ron's spirits were immediately lowered as he thought about what he had to go through this past couple of years.  The Philosophers stone.  The Chamber of Secrets.  The Triwizard Tournament, and now recently, what had happened in the Ministry just one month ago.  

But not everything that had happened over the last five years he had been in Hogwarts was bad.  He had met the best friends he had ever had, Harry, Buffy, Willow and Hermione.

Hermione.

His relationship with Hermione was very complicated.  They had first become friends when Buffy had save Hermione from a two vampires in their first year, on Halloween.  Buffy, Willow and Hermione were inseparable, whereas Hermione and himself…  Well, they tended to argue a bit.  A lot.  Constantly.  But that was okay with Ron, because Hermione was one of the most interesting people he had ever met.  Even though it didn't seem like he did, he enjoyed it when Hermione lectured him or corrected his homework.  He liked it when Hermione would come up with all these interesting facts.

Hermione.

He could think about her all day.  He remembered when they had first got together.  It was in their fifth year, after Dumbledore's Army had been established.  Harry had known about Ron's crush on Hermione, and Buffy and Willow had known about Hermione's crush on Ron.  So with a lot of arguments, tricks and strategies, Buffy had locked Hermione and Ron in a broom cupboard and had left them there for an hour.  

Flashback.

"So."  Hermione whispered, avoiding Ron's gaze.

"So."  Ron said, equally as uncomfortable as Hermione was.

"I'm going to kill Buffy when she unlocks the door!"  Hermione said loudly, a look of annoyance clearly written on her face.

It was quiet after that.  The only light was from the crack under the door that lit Hermione's face.  She looked beautiful, long curly hair tied neatly up in a bun, chocolate eyes that sparkled, robes that clung perfectly to her frame.

"Harry told me that you.." Ron started, trailing off as he lost confidence.

"Buffy told me that you…" Hermione replied.

"I do."

"So do I." Hermione said, smiling shyly.  Ron grinned at her, thanking the gods that it was true.  Hermione liked him!

"So you want to…"

"Sure,"  Hemione replied, "only if you want to…"

"I do."

"So do I."  Ron laughed to himself, as Hermione giggled quietly.

"This isn't going very…"

"No it isn't."

"I want to…"  Ron lost his confidence again.

"I want to as well…

"But I don't want to-"

"Go to fast?"

"Yes."

"Me neither."  Hermione said, unable to stop smiling.  Her dreams were coming true, after all this hard work of trying to tell Ron how she felt, it was actually happening!  Ron wanted to date her, and she felt exactly the same way.  When she got out of this broom cupboard, she was going to kiss Buffy for setting Ron and Hermione up, and then she was going to kill her because she was setting them up in an old broom cupboard.

Ron built up his courage and started again, "so are you sure you want to…"

"Definitely.  No doubt."

"So will it be okay if I kiss you?"  

Ron stepped forward as Hermione nodded and bent down to catch her lips in a soft kiss.  It was amazing, just like he imagined it would be.  Short and sweet, just as they had agreed.  They stepped apart, both gasping for breath.  It was Hermione who spoke first.

"That was-"

"I know."

End flashback.

"Ronald Weasley!  That is the fifth time I have called you, come downstairs now!"  Molly Weasley's voice echoed through the house, snapping Ron out of his daydream.

"Coming mum!"  He yelled, running out of the room after he had carefully put the picture he had of Hermione safely on his desk.

***

London, Giles' apartment.

The telephone was ringing.  It had been ringing for the past five minutes.  But Giles was lying in bed, asleep.  Or at least, trying to.  The phone stopped and Giles sighed in relief.  It was five o'clock in the morning.  He was so tired that it showed.  But it was hard not to be.  Having read the Daily Prophet every single day, there was always something new that shocked him and sent him into sleepless night.  But on the top of his list of problems and worries, was Buffy.  His slayer.  There were so many wrinkles and grey hairs that were caused by Buffy, but he was still always up late at night, wondering if she was okay.  Wondering if she was hurt, wondering if she had run into trouble when she went patrolling.  Giles had become her watcher when she had arrived at Hogwarts, and although he would never admit to anyone, she had become his the moment he had met her.  

She was his, his slayer, his student, his daughter.  At least, he would like to be her father.  He knew that her parents had divorced in Buffy's second year, and Hank had never kept in contact after the divorce, finding Buffy's magical talent too abnormal to cope with.  It had caused a lot of stress and worry on Buffy's part, she would constantly worry if it was because of her that her parents had split up, because of her that her father never talked to her.  But after a while, Joyce had told Buffy that Hank was cheating, and Buffy's worries and cares for her father had stopped and disappeared right then and there.

Buffy was Giles' daughter now.  She would go to Giles with any problem she would have, any insecurities she had and any worries.  And Giles had listened with an open ear, relishing in the fact that Buffy thought Giles as her father figure.  And that was why he was always worried about her, because even though her odd American ways and blunt manner of speaking annoyed him sometimes, Giles still adored Buffy, and he knew that his life would have no meaning if Buffy was not in it.

Giles turned on his side, prepared to go back to sleep again.  He closed his eyes, and as he did so, the phone started to ring again.  Giles growled.  He got out of bed and stomped to the phone in the living room.

"What?"  He said irritably, picking up the phone.

"I'm sorry Rupert, did I wake you?"  The speaker on the other side said, not sounding very sorry at all.  In fact, he sounded happy.  Giles pinched his nose, recognising the voice.

"Travers.  What do you want?"  

"I'm afraid we have some bad news." Then there was silence.

"What is it?"  Giles said, wondering if Voldemort had struck again, or if something was wrong at the Hellmouth.

"A new slayer has been called."

I know, I'm evil.  Hehehe.

Please review, if there's any questions about this, please ask cos some people may be confused with the time change and new characters and stuff.  But all will be explained in the next couple of chapters.

Please review!


	5. Buffy and cars do not mix

Disclaimer: I don't own anything…how many times must I say this!

Spoilers: Buffy:none, Harry Potter: all the books.

Sam-453:thanks so much for helping me with the wish thing, its so great I could jump for joy! But I wont, so thanks!

ANNE( v )79: ok, you had quite a lot of questions, so these are some of the answers.
    
    Where's Harry-he's at the Dursleys cos it's the summer.
    
    Is Sirius dead?-unfortunately yes, I don't know if I will bring him back.  
    
    Why is Hermione with Willow?-Hermione has gone to Sunnydale for the summer to stay with Willow and Buffy.
    
    Why Buffy isn´t with the Scoobie gang slaying?- cos she's a bit damaged!
    
    Are Buffy and Harry together?-nope, sorry!  But…something will happen between them…I aint going to say no more!

Thanks for reviewing, and please review to tell me what you think!

"You're thinking about him again."  Willow said, sitting down on the surprisingly comfortable sofa.

"I can't help it."  Buffy sighed, "He's billions of miles away, stuck in with the Dursley's, having the worst time in the world."

"You never know," Willow said, munching on some popcorn, "the Dursley's might have a change of heart and treat him nicer this summer."   

Buffy turned her head to look at her, the look on her face blatantly asking a simple question.

"No, I'm not crazy!"  Willow laughed as she saw her best friends face.  Buffy grinned and continued to stuff her mouth with popcorn.

"It's not about how the Dursley's are treating him."  She said, her mouth full of food, "It's about Sirius."

The moment she had mentioned his name, both girls fell under a sad silence.  As much as they tried to, they could not block out what had happened that night at the Ministry.  Sirius had died.  

Buffy did not know how this was affecting Harry, because she wasn't right next to him as she wished she was.  But she knew that it always was horrible to lose someone, especially someone who was so close to you as Sirius was to Harry.

Sirius was the only link Harry had with his parents, one of the few people who had known his parents from the inside out.  Sirius was the closest time Harry had had to family, and in one night, that bond had been broken, as Sirius had fallen.

"Let's not talk about that, Buffy."  Hermione said, appearing in the living room, carrying a bowl of crisps.

"But how can we not?"  Buffy said loudly.  "Sirius is dead, Voldymouth is properly alive and kicking, and for all we know, Harry could just be rotting somewhere, letting his grief consume him!"

Hermione sighed, catching Willow's eye.   They have had this conversation almost every night since the three girls had arrived and the outcome was always the same: they all ended up crying.

What had happened since they had joined Hogwarts was too horrific for them to even think about it.  Who knew one man could cause so much grief?  Who knew that one man could destroy their teenage lives as he had?

"You can't stop all the bad guys, Buff."  Willow said quietly.  

"Why not!"  Buffy shouted.  "I'm the slayer, why can't I?" 

"You can't beat yourself up about this Buff.  There are only certain things you can stop, just demons and vampires, not wizards."  Hermione reasoned, joining her other best friends on the couch and putting an arm around the small blonde in the middle.

"I know."  Buffy said quietly, her voice muffled because she had her face on Hermione shirt.

"He'll pull through Buffy."  Willow said, cuddling up to Buffy in an effort to comfort her and herself.

"He's got us, he knows that."  Hermione whispered, stroking Buffy's soft hair.

"Ow, Willow, you're hurting me!"  Buffy sniffled.   Willow sat up, an apologetic look on her face.

"It still hurts?"  She asked, gesturing to the cast on Buffy's arm.

Buffy nodded, wincing as Willow carefully lifted her arm.  Buffy had a large cast around her arm, covered with little messages of comfort from her mother, Willow, Hermione, Oz, and Xander.

"Does anything else hurt?"  Hermione asked a concerned look on her face for her friend.  Buffy shook her head, but wincing as Hermione poked her ankle.  Buffy grinned sheepishly, as Hermione put on a look on her face that made her resemble Mc Gonagall.

"It's been a week since you came out of hospital, and you immediately get back to training.  I thought the doctor said to take things slow!"  Hermione scolded.

Buffy grinned at Willow, finding it incredibly funny that Hermione was acting like their head of house.  But Willow didn't find it very funny.

"What!"  Buffy laughed.  "I spent a week in that bloody hospital bed; can you blame me for training again?"  She pleaded with Willow.

"You aren't going to get better if you train, Buff."  Willow reprimanded. 

"It was your fault that I got into this mess."  Buffy muttered quietly, but not quietly enough because Willow heard what she had said.

"Me!"  She said, horrified.  "How did I do that?  If I remember quickly, you were the one driving that damn car!"

"Fine, then it's your damn boyfriends fault then!"  Buffy said, her nose in the air, smirking a little.

"Oz?!"  Willow said, "What's he got to do with this?"

"Well, he was the one that got out of the car and left me all alone in there!"  Buffy argued.

"That may be so, but you were the one that drove the damn car!"  Hermione said, getting involved with the argument.

Buffy gasped, looking from Hermione to Willow, and then back to Hermione.

"Fine, take her side then!"  She said angrily.  Hermione grinned at Willow how winked back.  "I told you that me and cars do not mix."

_Flashback.___

_"I'll be back in a second Buff, I just need to get something first."  Oz said, jumping out of the car and running to Willow's house. _

_It was a beautiful day, the sun was out, kids were playing happily on the streets and it was the summer.  So why did Buffy not feel happy?  Well, for one thing, the whole incoming war with Voldymort was just damn depressing, and also, she was in a car.  _

_Not just any car, the car that Joyce had bought for her for her seventeenth birthday.  It was a beautiful car, dark red that seated five people.  It wasn't that Buffy didn't appreciate the car, it was just that cars and her did not mix.  But Xander, __Willow__'s best friend, Oz, __Willow__ and Hermione had all said that there was no point of having a car if she could not drive it.  Buffy had also argued that there was no point of having a car when she was only home for three months a year!_

_But they wouldn't let it go, and after hours of arguing and pleading, Buffy had argued to let Oz teach her how to drive.  And that was how Buffy had ended up here, in the driver seat of a car, parked opposite __Willow__'s house on a beautiful Sunday morning.  They had driven from Buffy's house to Willow, which, even though was four streets away, had taken them half an hour because Buffy had insisted that they drive at five miles an hour._

_The key was in the ignition, the music was blasting from the radio and Buffy could see a long car free road ahead of her.  Looking up to Willow's house, and realizing that Oz would not be coming back for several minutes, Buffy put her hands on the wheel._

_"Come on Buffy.  You can do this, it's just a car, a piece of junk, useless machinery."  _

_Buffy coached herself.  She put her hand on the key and turned it, jumping as she heard the car start.  _

_"Buffy, you can do this; it's not going to hurt you.  It's a nice car.  It's friendly and it's called…Mr. Gordo.  Mr. Gordo won't hurt you."  Buffy comforted herself.  She pushed down on the pedal and she found herself moving slowly past the houses, the wind in her hair, the firm but gentle feel of the leather steering wheel under her fingers._

_'Hey, this isn't so bad.'  Buffy thought to herself, grinning.   She increased her speed, and she drove down the road.  She soon came to the end and turned road, finding herself on another car free road.  She increased her speed again, feeling exhilarated by how easy she was finding this.  She didn't notice that her speed was now pushing forty, and she also didn't notice that she was coming to the main road._

_With the wind in her hair, the excitement of freedom building up inside her, she forgot everything.  She forgot that Sirius was dead, she forgot Voldemort had regained power, she forgot that Willow was getting even more powerful at her magic, she forgot that Oz was a werewolf, and she even forgot that she herself was a very powerful witch.  Buffy only saw the road, the freedom she had with the car, and she was so lost in this that she didn't notice that she was coming up to the main road, she didn't notice the traffic lights had gone red, and she certainly didn't notice the large and long truck heading straight towards her._

_The trucks horn was loud, so loud that it snapped Buffy out of her daze and made her turn to the source.  The red shiny truck was driving towards her at full speed, and before she had a chance to react, the truck hit the car and Buffy saw black._

_End flashback._

"Remind me never to drive again."  Buffy said, shuddering as she thought about the accident.

"Do you even remember what happened after the truck hit?" Hermione asked a worried look on her face.

Buffy shook her head, explaining to her best friends that all she remembered was black, and then suddenly, hearing voices, seeing a white hospital room and feeling tubes stuck into her body, and feeling an immense amount of pain on her leg and arm.

"Oz never should have gotten out of the car.  This never would have happened if he didn't want to see me."  Willow said quietly.  Buffy and Hermione exchanged looks, knowing how Willow always seemed to blame everything bad on herself.

"It's not your fault Will."  Hermione comforted, placing her hand on top of Willows.

"How are things with you and Oz anyways?"  Buffy asked, trying to change the subject.  Willow grinned, she loved talking about Oz, loved to be with Oz, ever since she had met him the summer after her fourth year.  She had never had the courage with boys, but constantly owling Buffy while she hanged with Oz made her confess her feelings to him.  Thankfully, Oz had felt the same way as Willow, and so everything had gone smoothly.  Until the third date.  Willow had been annoyed and worried that Oz hadn't kissed her yet, so she had gone to his house to confront him.  But when she had walked in, Oz was acting really strange, telling her to get away from him.  But Willow had not listened.  And Oz had changed into a werewolf and had chased her.  Luckily, Willow had used Wicca magic to knock Oz out, and in the morning, when Oz was back to being his naked human self, Willow and Oz had talked, and they had agreed to take things slow.  

"Good."

"I think Xander's jealous."  Hermione said with a mischievous grin on her face.  Willow looked shocked.

"But-but why?"  

"I think he's jealous because he doesn't get to Willow all to himself."   Buffy said, grinning as she recalled Willow's best friend that she had only met three weeks ago.

"But-but-but-that's silly.  Stupid Xand."  Willow laughed.

The door bell rang, and Hermione got off the couch to answer it.  As soon as she opened to door, a big blur of brown tweed ran through the door.

"Giles?"  Buffy asked, worried as to why he would be here.  "Aren't you supposed to be in England?"  

But Giles didn't answer her, he just stared at her, a look of utter bewilderment on his face.  Slowly, the look turned into shock, then to pure and utter happiness.

Rushing to Buffy and hugging her tightly, he choked out two words.  "Thank goodness."

Please review!  I hope all your questions have been answered, but if there are any more questions, please write them done on the review and I will answer them on my next chapter.  


	6. The Mysterious Stranger

Notes: thanks to everyone who reviewed, hopefully no one is confused anymore, but if you are, please tell me and I promise ill sort it out!  So hopefully no more confusy.

What's happened so far: Buffy, Willow, Ron and Harry meeting in train.  Buffy beating up Malfoy-hehe.  Buffy almost got sorted into Slytherin-almost!  Then time change to summer after 5th year.  Sirius is dead-sorry-, Ron and Harry in England.  Hermione and Willow in Sunnydale for holiday.  Oz is Willow's boyfriend; Hermione and Buffy have met him and Xander.  Oz gave Buffy a driving lesson, but there was a crash and Buffy died, but came back.  Giles found out that Buffy was dead and went to Sunnydale-and that's all that's happened so far!

Oo, almost forgot to say hi to Sam-453, 'cos she always shouts me out! Hello!  Great story, hurry up and update!-see, now I can bug u at school and on ff!

Oh, ppl, if you like Harry Potter-hopefully you do- go and read my new fic, _The boy who lived_.  It's going to be a Draco Hermione fic, so if u like that-go read! And review!

By the way, we will be catching up with Harry soon, but not till the next couple of chapters.  And no one except Dumbledore knows about the prophecy. 

Please review, it makes my day when I get them!

Oh, and I got to say thank you to Sam453 again because she helped me so much with this chapter… so thank you!!!!!xox

On with the fic…

________________________________________________________________________

Sunnydale-California.

Giles and the girls stayed up till midnight talking about Buffy's death and what had happened at Sunnydale so far.  Giles filled them in on the details about Voldemort, and they were shocked to learn that Voldemort was threatening the Watcher's council.  When Buffy had asked why, a miserable look had appeared on his face.

"Because we know who the slayer is." Giles had replied. "Slayers are powerful, and Voldemort knows that the current slayer is a witch and at Hogwarts.  The last slayer who was a witch was very powerful with her magic, and I am thinking that You-know-who wants the slayer as an ally, not an enemy." 

"But he can't force it out of the council, can he?" Willow asked, horrified.

"Veritaserum."

Buffy sighed, she hated talking about this.  She remembered like it was yesterday the day she had gone into Diagon Alley and Mr Ollivander had told her that she had the potential to be as strong as Voldemort, stronger maybe.  She remembered and she had told Giles about it, but Giles had said not to worry about it now, that she will when the time would come.  And the time had come.  

Buffy had found that whenever she got very angry, like the night in the Ministry, her being would reek of power, her legs and hands would shake because of it, and she had found that if she got pushed far enough, she could channel her power and destroy objects by just willing it with her mind.  She had found out this part of information by practising, when she had gone patrolling by herself after the night of the Ministry, she had gotten into a fight with a group of very large and powerful vampires.  They beating her senseless, and she was so angry that they were going to win, and she was so angry that Sirius had died that her anger had boiled inside her, power flowing into her veins as if it was replacing her blood.

One of the vampires had thrown her against a gravestone, the stone crumbling under the force of the throw.  Buffy was weak, she had had cuts all over her body and her leg was burning with pain.  The vampire had leaned in for the kill, his sweaty face centimetres from hers.  His eyes were dancing with triumph, glad that he would rid the world of another slayer.   Buffy shut her eyes and pounded her hands against the vampires chest, trying to shove him back, but she was not strong enough.  The vampire had pulled away, and Buffy had thought that he had left, so she had opened her eyes, only to find the vampire was still there, grinning like a maniac and looking deadlier than ever.  

Buffy threw her hands in front of her face- the most primitive of defences and cried out, releasing all her frustration and anger into the scream.  She screamed for Harry's loss, she cried out for Sirius, she screamed for the world, and she screamed for herself as she knew that she had lost, and she was so angry because of it.  

The vampire, grinning as Buffy cried out, leaned in again, his fangs bared, his feral animal eyes on her neck.  Buffy screamed more, giving everything she had into the scream at that moment.  As the scream intensified and reached a climax, the vampire popped, the dust showering the slayer.  She immediately stopped screaming, the cemetery sounding empty and silent because of the loss.  All the vampires were gone; all that was left was dust. 

"Damn." Buffy said, grinning.

She had never told Giles what had happened that night, no one knew, and no one was going to find out.

"Buffy?"  She snapped out of her reverie and smiled sweetly at Giles who was peering at her through his glasses. "Shall we rest for now and continue tomorrow morning when we are refreshed?"

Buffy nodded, and throwing her 'good nights' over her shoulder, she climbed up the stairs and hurried to her bed, were she fell into a restless sleep.

Ten days later.

Giles and the girls had not talked about Voldemort and the magical world since the night he arrived, mainly because Joyce was around much of the time, and she still didn't know about the dangers her daughter faced at school.  And in the cemeteries.  

Even though Buffy knew she should, she couldn't bring herself to tell her mother about being the slayer.  Her excuse was that she was already weird enough, and it might do some serious damage to her mother if she told her that she fought the things that kids had nightmares about.  So Buffy had really no intention of telling her mother what and who she really was, and that was how it was going to stay.  Even though Sunnydale was a Hellmouth, nothing happened that the residents couldn't turn a blind eye.  Buffy was amazed how ignorant the residents were, especially when her mother told her of all the murders and unusual deaths that occurred in this small town.  Buffy thought that she should really stay here to look after this Hellmouth, but Giles had insisted and kept on insisting that she was needed in England.  Especially when there was a small Hellmouth in Hogsmeade.

Buffy had been surprised when she had found out in her second year about the Hellmouth.  She had only been to Sunnydale, and the place just screamed Hellmouth to her, but Giles and Dumbledore had told her that the reason why she hadn't felt it was because of all the magic.  A Hellmouth was literally, the mouth to hell and demons and vampires alike were drawn to it.  There was tons of magic concentrated on it, and that was why Buffy couldn't feel it, because the magic was messing up her system.  

It wasn't before long that the subject of Voldemort crept up in their conversation.  It was night when it happened, and Buffy, who had her cast taken off just a day before, was practising with an axe in the living room.  Her mother was out.  

"But You-know-who wouldn't attack Hogwarts, would he?"  Willow asked, her lower lip trembling as she thought of the place that she called home ruined by a single man.

Giles sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, which was a sign of nervousness for him. "We cannot be sure, but if he does, and is successful, we will know then that he is unstoppable."

"Bit late to find that out though."  Buffy muttered, as she swung her large pointed axe from side to side, lunging and swinging at thin air.

They were silent, a depressed aura hanging around them as they thought of the impending battle.  It was a matter of weeks, maybe days when Voldemort would make a drastic and horrifying move, and everyone in the wizarding community were hiding under their beds until it happened.

"Have you heard from Harry?"  Giles said, breaking the silence.  Buffy stopped swinging her axe, her expression downcast.

"He owled us yesterday."  Buffy said, sitting on the arm of a chair.  Giles watched her waiting for her to go on.  Buffy sighed and pulled a crumple piece of parchment from her trouser pocket and handed it to Giles who read it out loud.

"Buff, Will, Hermione.

I hope everything is OK at Sunnydale.  I'm sure you're having fun.  Things are OK here, you know, the usual.

See you soon,

Harry."

Giles looked up from the parchment, a shocked expression worn on his face.

"That's hardly a letter.  I thought you said he sent long letters, not four sentences?" 

Buffy shook her head, her mind exhausted from thinking about Harry.  "Not any more."  She took back the piece of parchment and put it in her pocket.

"He sounded so empty, don't you think?  So alone, I wish I could be there for him."  Tears formed in her eyes as she thought of her closest best friend, but she blinked them back, not wanting to show the others how much she was stressing over this.

Hermione patted Buffy's knee, knowing how much this was hurting her even though Buffy never said anything.  "He just lost Sirius, and now Voldemort's back, you can hardly expect him to be happy about that can you?"

"I know Voldymouth's back OK!"  She shouted, leaping up from the chair and pacing the room.  "I don't have to be reminded constantly to know that!" 

"We understand-"Giles started but was cut off by a raging Buffy.

"No!  You don't!  That's the thing, no one does, only Harry does, and I can't help him!  I can't help him when I'm here, and I can't help him when I'm in England!  He's the only one who's life is like this, a life where he loses everyone he loves!  I don't know what that is like, you guys don't, Ron doesn't!  No one can help him, he's so alone!  No one can help him!"  Buffy shouted angrily, realising what Harry must feel like.

Hermione and Willow just observed her as she paced around the room, watching as she released all her built up emotion.

"He's not Buffy."  Giles said quietly, "You know what its like as well, don't you?"

Buffy stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes narrowed at Giles.  "What do you mean?"

Giles sighed, removing his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt.  "I hate to say this to you when you're like this, but don't forget, You-know-who wants you too."  Hermione and Willow's head swivelled round to look at Buffy as he said this, watching her reaction.  Her face changed from confusion, to understanding, to anger and then to back to understanding. "He may not know who you are, but he is searching for the slayer, and he knows that she is a witch.  He also knows that she is at Hogwarts, and it is a matter of time before he makes the connections to you, I'm surprised he hasn't already to be honest."

Hermione and Willow exchanged looks, thinking exactly the same thing.  How long would it be until he made the connections?  How long would Buffy have to hide?  What would You-know-who do to Buffy when she refused his proposal of joining him?

"I need to go."  Buffy said, hastily dropping her axe on the floor and collecting her stakes from the table.  The three sitting down immediately stood up.

"Buffy I'm sorry-"

"No big."  Buffy cut Giles off with a hand gesture as she walked out of the front door and into the night.

***

She couldn't stand this anymore!  She hated this, all they ever wanted to talk about was the coming war, didn't they every have an optimistic thing to say?  Buffy had stormed out of her house, feeling her power well up inside of her as they continued to talk about this bloody war.  If she had stayed in there one more second, she would have popped and would have unleashed her power to anything, like the sofa, or Giles.  

Even though she knew she should not be thinking about it so she could cool down, she could not help but think about what Giles had said before she had walked out.

_"…it is a matter of time before he makes the connections to you…"_

What would happen when the time came?  Buffy had never been under threat before, sure there were those couple of vampires in Hogsmeade who hated her because she killed their minions, there had been that small threat from a vampire trying to open the Hellmouth in her second year but she had killed him easily.  And of course there were the everyday threats from Malfoy, but she had always managed to beat them, or rather, him.

But Voldemort was in a whole different league, Buffy thought as she entered one of the many cemeteries, planning to let off some steam by kicking some demon ass.

As soon she had passed a big tree near the entrance of the cemetery, she realised that someone was following her.  Whether it was a vampire or demon she was not quite sure of, but she knew that it was no regular person.

Voldemort.

The thought hit her like a bolt of lightening.  What if Voldemort had made the connections already and had sent some Death Eater to collect her?  What if she was going to be taken to his secret _lair _and have to suffer hundreds of tortures as she told Voldemort that she would never join his side?  What if she was put under the Imperius and was forced to kill Harry?

Wait, calm down Buff, she told herself.  If Voldemort knew that she was the slayer, he would send more than one Death Eater to collect her, unless he was really stupid.

Buffy's nervousness disappeared as she realised this.  She extended her slayer powers to try and find out if the person following her was magical or demon.  His aura was all messed up, she was getting the vampire vibe, but there was a taste of something that she couldn't find in a normal vampire.  What was it?

Humanity.  Compassion.  Something vampires never had and was being to confuse Buffy.

Curiosity made her want to see what this person was, so she spun around on her heels to face him.

He was gorgeous, tall with broad shoulders, brown hair that stuck up at the front, a slightly large but well suited forehead and mysterious dark eyes.

He was perfect.

**So who is it then??  Do you have any ideas??  **

**Please please review!!  You see that little button down there?  The blue one on the left hand corner?  Just click it, tell me what you think and then press submit!  It only takes like, 2 seconds, and I bet u it burns up calories!!!!!!!!**


	7. A Talk Between Old Friends

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!  I thought u would get that now!

Hi everyone, thanks for your reviews!!!!!!!!!!  Sorry its taken such a long time to come out, but at least its here now!  

Everyone who hasn't seen Return of the King MUST go see it because it's the best movie ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I mean, Orlando Bloom is soooooooooo buff in it its actually heart stopping.  And the actual movie is good as well, so if you hate Orlando Bloom, still go and see it.

Hi franny, Sam-453, whatever!!!!!!  I am NO man! Hehe.  Thanks for your shout out!  I don't sulk if you don't mention me that is just rude to say I do!  Update woman!!  Thanks for your help, my part-time beta who thinks nasty thoughts!!!!!!! Tut tut tut.

AN// 29th December.  I changed this chapter a little bit, because it didn't fit with the rest of my story.  If you read this chapter again, you probably would not recognise the changed because it is small… so to save you the trouble, I have rewritten the last paragraph, and basically, I have written that the Order does NOT know that Buffy is the slayer, they also do not know that Angel is a vampire, only Dumbledore knows this.

Please review!

Angel threw his black coat on his chair as soon as he closed his motel room door.  Walking over to his bed, he took off his shoes and swung his feet up onto the bed.  He sighed, relaxing on his bed.  The room was completely dark, the curtains of the room were closed and the lights were off.  But Angel did not mind.  He liked the dark.  It wasn't so bright as light.  Light was too cheerful, and normally cheerful did not suit Angel.  He usually was broody, moody and anything else ending with oody.   

Angel did not plan to stay in Sunnydale long, he had a mission to complete, and once that was over, he would return to his home and his other work in England.  Angel had a past, a dark past which he was not proud of.  But the place where he worked now, they overlooked his past and treated Angel as a normal human being, something that he was far from.  

"I have never understood your liking to the dark."  A voice rang out, disrupting the silence, but Angel did not move, he knew who the owner of the voice was.

"I thought you didn't want to come to Sunnydale." Angel replied, a slight smile on his face as he thought of the many times his friend had protested against coming to Sunnydale.

"I came to see how you where getting on.  Do you mind if I switch on the lights?  I'm afraid I don't have vampire sight as you do."

"Sure, go ahead."

The lights switched on, flooding the room with light.  Angel winced, closing his eyes quickly as the light blinded him

"Ah, my friend, you should sit in the light more often.  The dark does terrible things to one mood."  Angel chuckled and opened his eyes, only to be blinded again by his friends clothing.  "May I ask what is bothering you now?"  His friend asked with mirth in his tone. 

"Man, your outfit!  Would it kill you to wear black once in a while?"  Angel shouted, shielding his eyes with his arm.

"If I do, I would unfortunately start to look like a vampire, and I'm sure that the reporters of the Daily Prophet would have a field day with that."  He laughed, "but, you must agree with me that my outfits are not as extravagant as Cornelius Fudge."

"I agree with that.  Maybe I should turn him?"  Angel joked, removing his arm from his eyes.

"I do think he is already gay my dear friend."  Angel laughed with his friend at his joke.  Albus Dumbledore smiled; glad to see his long time friend was smiling once again.  Dumbledore sat down on a chair next to the bed, removing the coat from it before he sat.  His robes were quite bright he supposed, the cuffs were adorned with sequins that glistened in the light, the fabric was bright yellow with silver stars and his shoes were orange.

"So what brings you here to Sunnydale?  I thought you said you hated it here."

Dumbledore nodded, "I do hate it here, and the Hellmouth makes my magic all, excuse my language, wonky.  It's not the same with Hogsmeade."  He paused, eyes twinkling.  "How did you get on my friend?  Have you met her yet?"

Angel smiled, thinking back to the meeting with Buffy.  He nodded.

"And?  What do you think of her?"

"Powerful.  I mean, I've seen her before, you know, in Hogsmeade in the cemeteries, but I've never been up close to her.  I've met many slayers in my time Albus, but this one, this one is something special."

"You must not become too infatuated with her Angel."  Dumbledore warned, peering at his friend through his spectacles.

"Too late."  Angel said softly, but Dumbledore heard him.  

"Miss Summers is something special of course, many boys at Hogwarts and even though she doesn't know it, Harry adores her, but it is not your place.  You were sent here to gain her trust Angel, not her love."  

"The Potter kid?  You're kidding me."  Angel scoffed.

Dumbledore sighed as he thought of his favourite student. "Harry has been through a lot these past few years.  Finding out that he is a wizard, having Voldemort after him, losing a father figure, these are terrible things."

"How about having to live through the guilt that you killed mercilessly for a hundred years?"  Angel muttered under his breath, and this time, Dumbledore did not hear him.

"To Harry, Miss Summers is and has been the only person that understood him.  Even though Miss Summers does not know it, the fact that she is the slayer and her fight and constant threat against demons helps Harry.  Every vampire or demon our slayer kills, it gives Harry hope that he can survive the fight.  If you take Miss Summers away from Mister Potter, I'm afraid that he will be lost."

"Whatever."  Was Angel's short reply.

"You must forget the feelings that you have for Miss Summers and continue on your mission.  I am counting on you." 

"I repeat whatever."

"You never should have followed her into the cemetery three years ago Angel."  He looked up sharply, his dark eyes meeting Dumbledore's twinkling blue ones.  "You think I didn't know?  I know everything that goes on at the Hellmouth Angel, and it was a mistake when you followed her in her third year."

~Flashback~

Angel walked through the lonely backstreets of Hogsmeade, his large black coat billowing in the wind.  He clutched at a wooden stake that was tucked up his sleeve (AN// lol Sam-453).  He loved doing this, hunting for disgusting, bloodsucking, murdering vampires, the kind of people that he used to be.  Every time he killed a vampire or a demon, he felt better inside knowing that he had just saved many people from death.  With the all the killing he used to do many years ago, there was an immense amount of guilt in his non-beating heart, and it would not go away.  But every time he dusted another vampire, a small amount of that guilt left him, and he felt better about himself.  

He turned a corner and found himself on a main road.  Exactly where he did not want to be, he would be seen if he walked in the main road.  Plus there were all the people about, and Angel was not much of a people person.  Normally, he would sweep the alleys and back streets of Hogsmeade, looking for the vampire who was taking a snack.  But he had gone further tonight, into a street he did not know, and he had turned a corner he did not know.  After pausing momentarily to survey the scenery around him, Angel continued down the main road, against his judgement, and turned another corner.  As he turned, he bumped into someone, and that someone promptly fell down.

"Uh, sorry.  I didn't see you."  Angel said, offering his hand to the girl he had bumped into.

The girl stood up without the need of his hand, and brushed herself down, checking the floor for something she had lost.  "It's ok.  You scared me a bit, but I'm ok now."  She said, panting as she brushed her blond hair out of her sparkling emerald eyes.  "See ya."  She said, rushing off quickly down the main road.  Angel turned so he could see her rush away, captivated by her… something.  Something that she had drew him to her, and he couldn't place it.  She was powerful, he sensed that, and he knew the second he had bumped into her that she was the slayer, but she had something else, something that was not magical or that was given to her by the Powers That Be.

Not knowing what it was, but determined to find out, he followed the girl, far enough so she could not sense him, and close enough so he could sense her.

~End flashback~

"It was her power, I was drawn to it."  Angel covered up quickly.  

Dumbledore smirked, seeing through the lie. "I'm a headmaster Angel.  I read people.  And right now, you are like an open book.  The poor girl was only thirteen years old, yet you followed her in.  And you fell in love with her.  And you have been in love with her ever since.  Every time she went patrolling, your shadow was following her, a good distance behind, but I do think that she has always known that you were following."

"She didn't say that when I was talking to her."  Angel pointed out.

"Not everything is as it seems."

Angel smirked.  "Let me guess, she's an open book and you're reading her."

"Not quite.  I pride myself on knowing everything there is to know about my students Angel.  For example, I know that when Lavender Brown took a day off school last term and stayed in her room all day, she was not ill as she had told everyone else; she in fact had a large pimple on her nose and spent the entire day in an effort to remove it.  I also know that when Terry Boot boasted to all his friends that he 'did' Miss Sally-Anne Perks, she had in fact slapped him around the face and told him to 'drop dead'.  I also know that-"

Angel cut him off with a wave.  "Ok, so you do know a lot about your students, but what about Buffy?""

Miss Buffy Summers is a very powerful slayer.  Strong, tough, fast, and clever.  She also knows when people follow her even though she has never mentions such an event to me.  However, slayers are hard people to read, they have many secrets and they are good at keeping them.  She, unlike other students at my school, is quite difficult to read.  Not impossible I assure you, Buffy Summers is a puzzle I will solve eventually, but for now, I can only find a few pieces.  Who knows why Buffy chose tonight to confront you.  It is your job top find out."  Angel was quiet, processing everything Dumbledore had just said.

Angel and Dumbledore had been close friends ever since he had approached Angel with a demon called Whistler five years ago.  Angel was living in New York at the time, surviving on rat's blood and sleeping on the streets.  When Dumbledore had met him, he did not seem to care that Angel had killed mercilessly for a century.  Dumbledore was a man of second chances, and that was exactly what he had given Angel.  A second chance.  When Dumbledore had received word that a slayer was to be attending Hogwarts, he had watched the slayer closely.  When he had found that the slayer had become best friends with Harry Potter, he wanted Angel to befriend the girl, to gain a trust and make sure that Buffy did not turn to Voldemort's side.  Even though Angel had feelings for Buffy, he knew that it could not get in the way from the job he was given by Dumbledore.  The Order did not know that Angel was a vampire, or that Buffy was a slayer.  This was a mission given to Angel by Dumbledore alone.  He would not let Dumbledore down.

"I'll forget about my feelings.  I'll do my mission right.  I won't let you down, Albus."

Please review! Remember my calorie theory?


	8. The Urgent Owl

A week had passed since Buffy had met Angel, and she had not spoken a word to anyone about it.  She had been patrolling four times since that night, but she had not bumped into Angel.  Buffy did not plan to tell anyone about Angel, or about the cross that he had given her.  Her friends did not mention Harry again; they had learnt their lesson from that night.  It was three weeks till school started, and owls were not being delivered to the Summers residence, or, for that matter, anywhere on the Hellmouth.   

"It's You-know-who isn't it!  He has stopped mail being delivered to anywhere in the world, thereby causing major wizarding stress!"  Willow rambled one morning in the Summers house.  Hermione sighed, sipping her cup of tea.  

"Does that even make sense?"  Buffy groaned with her head in her hands.  Willow glared at Buffy, and sat down once she realised that Buffy was not looking at her.  

"It's too early in the morning for gibberish Will."  Hermione said, smiling to her red haired friend.  

Willow lay back on the couch and closed her eyes.  "Why does Giles want us up so early anyway?"

"He might know something."

"How!  All the owls in this Hellmouth have migrated!  Gone to the South!  Gone to escape winter!"  

Hermione raised her eyebrows at her odd little friend.  "It's summer Will."

"Whatever.  You know, in Australia, it's like winter over there right now.  How freaky is that?"  

"It's the way the world works Will.  If you got a problem, tell it to the guy upstairs.  Besides, Willow is right Hermione."  Buffy agreed, rolling her eyes at Willow because Willow had smirked at Hermione.  "What does Giles want us up so early for anyway?  He couldn't possibly have news, there are no owls-"

Buffy was cut short as a small tawny owl flew in through the open window and landed gracefully onto the arm of Buffy's chair.  The three girls stared at it, bewildered. 

"Hermione are you a Seer?"  Willow said in a hushed voice.

Hermione scoffed.  "Me?  Don't insult me Wills!"

Buffy laughed as she opened the envelope the owl gave her.  She read it out loud:

_"Buffy Summers, __Willow__Rosenberg__ and Hermione Granger_

_The Living Room_

_Revello Drive___

_Sunnydale_

_California___

_Misses Summers, __Rosenberg__ and Granger_

_Mr Giles has received some important information from the Watcher's Council about Miss Summers.  At this moment, Miss Summers, you are in terrible danger.    
Please gather your things, along with you companions and be ready for Mr Giles to port-key you to 'our house'._

_Do not be alarmed, but be on alert, do not part from your wands, do not leave your house and do not let anyone in your quarters._

_Albus Dumbledore."_

Buffy glanced up at her two best friends, her throat dry and her fingers numb.  Hermione looked back at her, her brown eyes wide, her slender fingers covering her mouth.

"Let's get our stuff then."  Buffy whispered, glancing towards the window, looking to see if anyone was coming.  Willow and Hermione nodded dumbly, and the three moved through the house, collecting their things quickly and in silence.  Before long, Buffy was packed, which was a wonder because she felt she couldn't move.  The worst possible reasons for Dumbledore to owl her flitted through her hectic mind.  The worst reason out of all of them was that Voldemort had found out that she was the slayer. 

The three young girls sat stiffly on chairs in the living room, one of them occasionally jumping at a small, insignificant sound.  None of them made a move to talk about the letter, the same thought was running through their minds.

_Voldemort knows that Buffy is the slayer._

Because of this thought, and because of the letter that Dumbledore had sent them, they all jumped up and grabbed their wands (for Buffy, she grabbed her wand and her dagger) and pointed it at the door when it opened.

Joyce Summers was very surprised when three girls pointed their wands at her in a defensive position as she bustled in through the door, her arms laden with grocery bags.

"Oh!  Sorry mom!"  Buffy cried, quickly hiding the dagger from the eyes of her mother.  The three girls hurriedly took the bags from Joyce's arms and ushered her into the kitchen, Buffy closing the front door quickly.

Joyce watched as the three girls packed away all the food in the cupboards as fast as lightening, then, when they had finished, lined up against the counter, with forced smiles on their faces.

"Girls?"  Joyce questioned, an amused expression on her face.  "What's going on?"

"Nothing."  The girls chorused quickly.  Joyce raised her eyebrow, not believing them.

"Uh, why we sit down."  Willow said, ushering Joyce into the living room.

"Will!"  Buffy hissed, hitting the redhead on the arm. 

Willow winced and rubbed her arm.  "What?"

"She'll see the-"

"Honey!"  Joyce entered the kitchen, a confused expression on her face.  "What are these trunks doing down here?"

Buffy winced.  "Uh, mom, I have something to-"

She was interrupted by the door opening again and Giles rushing through it.

"Will everyone stop interrupting me with all the entrances?"  Buffy fumed.  "First the owl, then mom, now Giles!"  Buffy threw her hands up in the air.  Once she realised that everyone was staring at her as if she had lost her mind, she lowered her hands and grinned sheepishly.

"Are you ready to leave girls?"  Giles asked, pulling out a small broom, which would serve as a port-key, from behind his back.

"Go?  Go where?"  Joyce echoed, as the three girls gathered their things.  "Can you please tell me what is going on?"

Buffy and Giles looked at each other, Giles' look saying _tell her and_ Buffy's saying _No way in hell.  Giles sighed, he had asked Buffy many times to tell her mother about England, and who she really was, but Buffy kept on saying no, her argument was that she was already a disappointment to her mother, with what happened in her last school, and she wanted her mother to think that she was perfectly normal and was not battling the forces of evil every night._

Buffy pouted, knowing that would win over Giles.  She was right.  "We are needed in England, and we are leaving immediately Mrs Summers."  Giles explained, telling the truth, but not expanding.

"Why?"  

"Hogwarts matters.  Nothing that bad, I assure you."  Was Giles' answer.

Joyce paused for a moment, in thought, then a smile broke out on her face.  "Well that's brilliant!"  

"Huh?"  Buffy gaped, her eyes wide, thoroughly confused, which wasn't a rare occurrence.

"Oh darling, this is perfect!  I didn't want to tell you till nearer the time, but, I've sold the house and museum!  I'm going to move to England!"  Joyce squealed happily and pulled Buffy into a bone-crushing hug, not noticing that Buffy was limp with shock.  "This is much better darling, so now you can come home for Christmas and you will be closer to your friends!  Besides, I've always wanted to go to England, so if you just wait for me to pack and book a flight, we can all go to England together and see the sights, find a house.  Isn't it perfect?"  Joyce held her daughter at arms length, a large grin on her face.

"You're serious, aren't you."  Buffy commented, in shock.  Joyce nodded.  "No."

"No?"  Joyce let her arms fall down to her sides.  "What do you mean no?"

"You are not moving to England."

"Do not take that tone with me, young lady!"  Joyce answered, throwing her hands on her hips.  "Now why not?"

Buffy was silent.  If she told her mother why, it would mean telling her about everything, about Voldemort, about the slayer, everything.  The reason for Joyce not to move was that if Voldymouth had found out that Buffy was the slayer, Joyce could be in danger.  "Trust me mom."

"Tell me the truth!"  Joyce demanded, as the three girls gathered their bags.  

"I love you mom, but just do what I say, ok?"  Buffy pleaded, tears in her eyes as she placed a hand on the broom.

Before Joyce could answer, Buffy and her companions were gone, and Joyce was left in the living room by herself, extremely distraught. 


	9. Reunions and The Order

Hi everyone!  

Lookie… a quick update!!! Yay!  And I've already got the next chapter written!  I'm on a roll!!! Yay!!!

I am in a really weird mood today…I just went shopping and I bought pirates of the Caribbean dvd and 2 magazines.  Shat do they all have in common?  They all have Orlando Bloom in it…yum…

Disclaimer: I don't anything!  Apart from a PotC dvd…yum…

Thanks for the reviews everyone!! They mean so much to me…I am happy now!!!

Please review!!!!

Sam-453- W: Hey, it's me

                   C: Prove it

                   W: You're a dick

                    C: … ok.

On with the fic..

Buffy, Hermione, Willow and Giles arrived in a park near the Order's headquarters.  Silent tears were running down Buffy's cheek and Willow immediately took notice and pulled her into a hug.  The area where they had arrived in was thick with trees, so nobody could have seen them arrive.  Thick green leaves stopped the sunlight from getting through, so it was very dark. Giles placed a featherweight charm on the trunks so it would be easier to carry, and then Giles and Hermione waited patiently for Buffy and Willow to separate.

Hermione felt horrible that Joyce was planning to move to England, she knew exactly how Buffy was feeling.  Everyday when she received her Daily Prophet, she hoped and wished that the Muggles attacked were not her parents.  It was possible that You-know-who knew that she was Harry's best friend, and she prayed every day that he would not kill her family.  

"Are you alright?"  Willow whispered in Buffy's ear.  Buffy nodded, a small, forced smile on her face.

"Thanks."  She replied quietly, giving Willow a quick squeeze.  Willow winced and Buffy smiled apologetically, and then picked up her trunk and broom.

"Shall we go?"  She chirped, feigning a wall in front of her real emotions.  Giles nodded, and led the girls out of the park and towards number 12 Grimmauld Place.  The street was narrow and dirty, the warm sunlight contrasting to the grim houses.  They arrived shortly at the gap between number 11 and number 13, and Giles took out a small piece of paper.  In a matter of seconds, a house identical to the others on the road had squeezed its way between number 11 and 13.  Willow felt sad, she had already been here before, for about a week last summer, but that was when Sirius was still alive.  To her, coming here again felt wrong, and the moment she stepped inside, she felt an odd sense of unwelcoming and sadness in the place.  Clearly, her other friends did not feel like this, they were grinning, especially Hermione, as she excited to be seeing Ron again.

The girls followed Giles wordlessly through the hall and down the stone steps which led to the kitchen.

"The Weasley's are here.  There's a meeting of the Order starting in a few minutes, so everyone is downstairs.  Including Harry."  Buffy's head swivelled to look at Giles the moment he mentioned Harry.  Giles smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, a fatherly gesture and something she had gotten used to after all these years of him being her watcher and a father figure.  Buffy was in front of everyone, so she was the first one to step into the kitchen.

It was as gloomy and as dark and it was last year, a large table stood in the middle, chairs and stools all around it.   The room was packed, but Buffy could make out the bright red hair that belonged to the Weasley's, pink hair that she assumed belonged to Tonks, greasy black hair that belonged to Snape (ick) and a tall pointed purple cap that she assumed belonged to Dumbledore.  Everyone looked at her as she came in, but the first thing that greeted her was a sharp butcher's knife, flying right at her face.  Dropping her trunk, she caught the knife inches from her face and grinned.  The room was silent, everyone in awe at what she had just done, and then:

"Frederick Weasley!  How many times must I tell you not to use magic for the smallest thing?"  Mrs Weasley's ear piercing shouts brought everyone back to normal, and the people in it resumed talking.  "I'm so sorry dear."  Mrs Weasley made her way through the people and took the knife from Buffy's hand.  "Good thing you have superb reflexes, dear."  Mrs Weasley smiled and pulled Buffy into a tight hug, even though the expression on her face read 'oh my dear lord'.

"How's our favourite girl?"  Fred asked, a large grin on his face when his mother let Buffy go.

"Oi!"  Ginny swatted Fred on the arm.

"Ok, our second favourite girl, after Ginny of course."  George added.

"Hey!"  Willow protested, a cheeky grin on her face as she entered the room after Buffy.

"Our joint second favourite girl, with Will."  

"Hey!"  This time, the protest was from Hermione who had just entered the room.

Fred and George looked at each other, looks of mock worry on their faces.  "We know too many girls, George."  Fred said.

"Hermione!"  Ron shouted, jumping up from his chair and running towards her.  Everyone in the room (minus Snape) cheered and whistled when Ron kissed her passionately.  Buffy grinned at Harry, who was watching his best friends.  He pretended to gag, and then returned her smile.  'Are you ok?'  Buffy mouthed.  Harry nodded, his smile shrinking.  

"Oi, Ron mate!  Give the girl a break!  Or more correctly, Hermione, give our brother a break!"  George joked, pretending to pull the two apart.  Hermione and Ron grinned; Ron's face a dark shade of red which clashed horribly with his hair.

Fred clapped Hermione on the back, a mischievous look on his face.  "Now Hermione, we just found out that ickle Ronnikins has a girlfriend."

"So we've got to warn you-"

"If you hurt Ron in anyway-"

"We're coming after you-"

"And if you get him knocked up-"

"You've gotta marry him-"

"We won't have our brother raising a baby by himself."  Everyone (minus Snape) roared with laughter, but Hermione had turned a deep red, and Ron's face was purple.

George suddenly looked as if he was going to be sick.  "Here, you haven't done it yet have you?"

"George!"  Mrs Weasley interrupted, "that is quite enough!"  She shot Hermione an apologetic look and the twins returned to their places.

"So Willow."  Fred started, "How's your boyfriend?"  

Willow and Buffy exchanged looks, and then they both burst out laughing.

"It's good."  Willow said in between giggles,

"Yeah, their relationship is blossoming."  Hermione added, giggling as well.

"Nothing out of the ordinary with her relationship."  Buffy joked.

"You know, only a few upsets."  Hermione added, giggling.

George and Fred exchanged confused looks, "What do you mean, a few upsets."  

"You know, there was that whole thing where he was a bit confused about my lifestyle, but that was sorted out."  Willow said seriously.

"Also that time when he tried to kill you."  Buffy added.

The whole room was silent, but the three girls took no notice.  "That has to be the third time he's tried to kill you."  Hermione mentioned, and Willow nodded.

"Willow?  What do you mean?"  Ginny asked, voicing almost everyone's question.

"Oh!"  Willow exclaimed, realising everyone wanted answers.  "He's not a Death-Eater, if that's what you mean.  He's a werewolf."  There was an audible sign of relief.  "He just gets loose sometimes.  When he changes, I keep him in my room at home in chains."  Willow ignored the whistle the twins gave her.  "He got out once or twice, so I shot him with my tranquilizer gun."

"Now that's love."  Ron remarked, and the whole room (minus Snape) exploded into laughter.

Fred grinned. "Now tell me, Lupin, is that how it is with you?  Does your partner give you chains?"  Lupin blushed, and Snape scowled.

"Mister Weasley, that is quite enough."  He said icily.

Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling.  He clapped his hands together getting everyone's attention.  "I think it is time for the meeting to begin, if the members will join me, I have news."  His gaze lingered on Buffy for a moment, but Buffy did not see it, as she was whispering to Ginny.  

There was a loud noise of chairs and stools scraping on the stone floor, and the room was empty save the twins, Ron, Ginny, Willow, Hermione, Buffy and Harry.  There was an uncomfortable silence, the occupants of the kitchen looking awkwardly at each other.  Hermione decided to break the silence and started a conversation.

"What did you get for your OWLS Harry?"  

Harry looked up at her, his gaze having previously been on Buffy.  "I got Outstanding for everything apart from Divination, History of Magic, and Astronomy."

"That's brilliant Harry!"  Buffy congratulated, squeezing his hand.  

"Yeah, Snape gave me a dirty look before.  I think he's angry that I'm going to take Potions."  Harry said, grinning.

Willow made a face, "I can't believe we are going to have to take Potions with that-that-that, mean person!"  

"Well done Will, that was a brilliant insult."  Ginny joked, laughing when Willow stuck her tongue out at her.

"Are you ok Harry?"  Buffy whispered.

"Sort of."  He replied, brushing his jet black hair out of his face.

"Want to talk about it?"  She asked, looking into her best friends eyes.  Harry nodded, and they both stood up and made for the door when it opened and Giles entered.

There was a grim expression on his face, and he was pinching the bridge of his nose.  "Can I see you for a second Buffy?"  She nodded and followed him out of the kitchen, casting back an apologetic look at Harry.  Giles led Buffy through the door which led to the Order's meeting room, and Buffy curiosity grew.  _What could they possibly want with me?  Maybe Voldemort HAS found out that I'm the slayer._  There was a knot in Buffy's stomach now, and she wished that Giles could walk faster; she wanted to know what the deal was.  Giles led her into an empty room, and then through another door, which she could hear voices drifting through it.  

Buffy entered the room after Giles and surveyed her surroundings.  She was in a large room, lit alight with blazing torches on the walls, casting dancing shadows on the floor.  The room was plain, the ceiling was low, the wall and floor were made out of stone and a small fireplace was lit in the corner. In the middle of the room was a long table, and the members of the Order were sitting at it.  At the head of the table was Dumbledore and on the wooden table were bits of parchment, ink wells and maps.  

Buffy caught what Dumbledore was saying to the Order, and she froze with fear. 

"Voldemort knows who a slayer is."

Dum dum dum…

He knows!!  Ahhh!

Sorry I'm in such a weird mood today…kind of in a 'fire bad, tree pretty' mood.

Notice the wording on the last sentence…clue!!

Please review!!!


	10. Truths and Kendra

"No, that can't be true."  Buffy blurted out.  Every head swivelled round to look at her, all eyes were on her.

"What is she doing here, Rupert?"  Snape growled.  

Buffy ignored Snape and ran to the end of the long table, the wooden structure in the middle of her and Dumbledore.  "Tell me it's not true."  She demanded, desperately.  _It can't be true._

Dumbledore smiled knowingly and nodded.  "It is not what you think, Miss Summers."

Buffy breathed an audible sigh of relief and placed her hand on her heart.  _Thank god. Was her first thought.  _I'm not in danger__

"So what do you mean he's found the slayer?"  She asked, breathing heavily.

Snape stood up, and angry expression on his face.  "I really must protest Dumbledore.  This is Order business; she has no part in it."  He sneered at Buffy, and she glared back.

"If you had let me finish, Miss Summers, I would have finished by saying-"

Now another Order member had stood up, Emmaline Vance. "Dumbledore, Severus is quite right, we cannot include her in this."  Molly Weasley was closest to Buffy and she stood up, gesturing to the door.

"No!"  Buffy protested, slamming her fist down on the table and making a hole in it.  The Order member's gasped, but Dumbledore smiled.

"Do not worry my dear, Voldemort has found another slayer, by the name Kendra.  She was raised in the Caribbean under the Watcher's Council, and the Death Eater's found her.  The found out she is not a witch and they killed her."

Buffy swallowed, but she found it difficult as there was a lump in her throat.  _I don't even know this girl. She thought desperately.  __Why am I crying for her?  She wiped away tears from her eyes and Giles came up behind her and gave her a tissue._

"Are you alright my dear?"  Dumbledore asked, concerned.

Buffy shook her head.  "No.  When you said that he had found the slayer, I thought that was it.  I'm dead.  But then you said he found someone else and I felt," she paused and turned to Giles.  "Worse.  I don't know what better, having Voldymouth know who I am, or waiting to see if he finds out.  Everyday this summer, when it dark and I was out alone, every noise I heard, I thought it was the Death Eaters.  I thought they were coming to get me.  But it was nothing, just a bird or a demon, it was nothing."  Buffy wiped her tears away and faced Dumbledore.  "And now a girl's dead because of me."  She choked.  "At least if Voldymouth knew who I was, he could come and capture me and I could kick his ass.  Does it even make sense?"  She laughed, even though her heart wasn't in it.

Giles looked kindly at her and took her hand, squeezing it reassuringly.  "Yes it makes sense, but you should be glad he has not found you Buffy.  That isn't selfish."  Buffy nodded.

"May I ask how it was that another slayer was activated?"  Dumbledore asked gently.

"Wait a minute!"  Snape snapped, glaring at Buffy.  "This girl is the slayer?"  He laughed, and Buffy glared at him, suppressing her sadness. 

"Yeah.  You got a problem with that?"  She challenged.  Snape snorted and looked her up and down.

"You're so…small…weak."  

"Shall I demonstrate my strength on you?"  Buffy questioned, menacingly.  "I can snap your spine like that."  She clicked her fingers.  "I can land you in hospital for a lifetime, do you really want demonstrating?"   She glared at him, a glare that she gave all the vampires, demons and Malfoys that she faced, and she knew that it was scary.  She was right because Snape gulped and sank down in his chair, all the while trying to look like he wasn't scared.

Giles cleared his throat, getting the attention on him.  He took off his glasses and started to clean them, at which Buffy rolled her eyes.  "A slayer is only activated when the previous slayer dies.  Over the summer, Buffy, um, died."  There was a collective gasp and then a burst of noise as everyone pounded questions onto Giles and Buffy.  It took Dumbledore several times to order quiet for the room to be silent.

"Buffy, please can you explain this.  Was it a Death Eater?"  Dumbledore asked, his eyes no longer twinkling.

Buffy shook her head and giggled.  "No, it was Oz!"  

There was a murmur and Dumbledore raised his hand to obtain silence.  "Please elaborate."

"Oz.  Oz, um, well, just Oz I think.  Oz, as in Willow's boyfriend." 

"Willow's boyfriend killed you?"  Lupin exclaimed, horrified.

"No!  It was his fault though.  Well, I guess it wasn't really, but if he hadn't gone off to Willow's house and done god knows what with her, I wouldn't have started the car and gotten into a crash!"  Buffy protested, even though she knew it was her fault.

The members of the Order looked even more confused.  "A car is a muggle form of transportation."  Giles explained.  There were a collective 'oh' among the members. 

"Well," Dumbledore started, his eye twinkling once more.  "I have covered all I want to cover, this meeting is adjourned."

Buffy smiled at Giles once more and ran out of the room; she couldn't wait to get rid of all those stares.

The ending is a bit rushed…sorry.  

All of you asked if it was Faith…but Kendra's dead now…so…

Please review!!!


	11. Story tellings and a prophecy

Long time no see huh? Sorry for the wait...my muse has jumped out the window. I found this chapter hiding in the corner of my computer, collecting dust, and I thought that it was no point to leave it collecting even more dust, so I've decided to post it. Unfortunately, I do not know when I am going to post next...sorry.  
  
Thanks goes out to all those who reviewed...  
  
On with the fic!  
  
All the Order members that Buffy did not recognise were gone, and they ones she did; Lupin, Moody, and the ones who had rescued Harry last summer had stayed for dinner. It was quite a squeeze on the table, and she was extremely close to Charlie Weasley, which she did not mind at all, because, well, he was hot!  
  
Buffy knew that the topic of the slayer would not take absence over their conversations for long, and she was fine to talk about it, but she kept glancing at Harry and she knew that he wanted to talk.  
  
It was Lupin who asked first about the slayer, him being a DADA teacher in the past, and the new one in September, he was fascinated. Buffy was munching away at her pasta, listening to all sorts of conversations around her, from Charlie and Bill talking about dragons in Romania, to Willow and Hermione talking about the pros and cons about having a boyfriend.  
  
Lupin cleared his throat and looked expectantly at Buffy from across the table. Trying to whisper the question, but finding it difficult because of the noise around him, he asked his question loudly and then blushed, looking extremely cute. "How long have you been a slayer Buffy?"  
  
The entire room was silent, everyone was looking at Buffy. Then, Fred and George mock-gasped and put their hands to their hearts. "You're a slayer Buffy? We had no idea!" Fred grinned and Buffy rolled her eyes.  
  
"Stop you two, you already knew."  
  
"How?" Charlie and Bill chorused.  
  
Fred and George stood up, serious looks on their faces, which made them look as if they were constipated. "Well, it is quite an amazing story." Fred started. Buffy rolled her eyes and leant back in her chair, ready for the twins to tell their 'version' of the story.  
  
"We were in Hogsmeade once, last year-"  
  
"Minding our own business of course-"  
  
"Of course." George agreed. "It was dark-"  
  
"And young, carefree and innocent as we boys are-"  
  
Buffy snorted, but George continued after glaring at Buffy. "We accidentally turned down a dark alley-"  
  
"And were confronted by five or six vampires."  
  
"We were awfully surprised, but we overcame it and we shot a few spells-"  
  
"Stunning charm, Sunlight spell, that sort of thing-"  
  
"But we realised it wasn't stopping them. Thankfully, we had a few of our inventions in our pockets-"  
  
"If anyone would like a sample, please see us after." Molly shot apologetic glances to everyone, and then returned to a motherly glare at the twins.  
  
"Yes, so anyway, that wasn't as effective as we had hoped, and we soon found ourselves pinned up on the wall by a large vampire."  
  
The twins then both got dreamy looks on their faces and their gaze rested on Buffy. "Suddenly, an angel flew out from the sky-"  
  
"In leather-"  
  
"With a tight ass-"  
  
Buffy threw her napkin at them and it landed on George's face. He grinned at Buffy and continued. "It was amazing, she punched and kicked, and before we knew it, she had dusted every one of those vampires."  
  
George got down from his chair and bowed to Buffy, who blushed, thoroughly embarrassed. "We were saved, and we didn't know how to thank her-"  
  
"So we did the only thing we could think of-"  
  
Buffy interrupted them, by telling the truth of what happened next. "So they grabbed my ass and I put them in a headlock."  
  
The entire room burst into laughter and Fred and George sat back down on their seats after giving a bow.  
  
"It was very firm." Fred added, throwing a wink at Buffy. Molly shrieked and thumped Fred on the back, which only caused everyone to laugh even harder.  
  
"So that was how they found out?" Charlie asked, recovering from laughing. Buffy nodded.  
  
"Leather, huh?" Bill teased, winking at a blushing Buffy.  
  
"It's her slaying outfit." Ron supplied.  
  
Molly looked horrified. "How do you know this?" She asked, in a tone that said she meant business. Ron blushed and seemed to sink in his chair.  
  
"I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley." Buffy apologised. "I occasionally took them out slaying with me."  
  
"Buffy!" Giles chastised.  
  
"It wasn't often!" Buffy protested. "And they didn't get hurt, honest!"  
  
Molly seemed momentarily satisfied with her answer, and the occupants of the dinner table got back to eating their food and asking Buffy of her slaying experiences. She told them of how Willow, Ron, Hermione and Harry had found out (they had found out when Hermione was attacked by a bunch of vampires on Halloween in their first year) and of the demons she had faced.  
  
It wasn't until late that Buffy and Harry had a chance to talk, and they ran up the stairs and settled in the girl's bedroom that Ginny, Hermione, Willow and Buffy would share. They sat in silence for a while, Buffy sitting cross legged on her bed, and Harry sitting on Willow's bed opposite. They sat; avoiding their gazes under Buffy got fed up and sighed.  
  
"This is stupid." She said.  
  
"Yeah." Harry agreed, grinning, his eyes hidden behind his black floppy hair.  
  
"What did you want to talk to me about?"  
  
Harry was silent, wondering what to tell her, but then he was reminded by a voice at the back of his head that Buffy was one of his best friends, and she wouldn't act weird because of what he told her. Because of that reminder, Harry told her everything while Buffy sat holding his hand and nodding in all the right places.  
  
He told her of what happened with Voldemort at the Ministry, he told her how Sirius died, he told her about the conversation he had had after the ministry incident with Dumbledore and he told her about the prophecy. He told her how he had been feeling so empty this summer, how he had lost the only family he had left and how he was scared about killing Voldemort. He didn't have enough hate for that, he explained, and even though he knew that Voldemort wouldn't think twice about killing him, he didn't think he was ready to kill someone. Buffy listened to all this, her heart going out to Harry as he told these things, and when he had finished, she did not know quite what to say. She could not tell him how to kill Voldemort, she could make the grief of Sirius dying go away. She felt helpless, but when she looked into his emerald eyes, which were full of emotion, it came to her with a bang.  
  
"I promise," She started, kneeling down on the floor in front of him. She put her hand up to his cheek and brushed away a lone tear. "I promise that I will never, ever, leave you. I'll be here for you, every step of the way, anything you want, I'll give it to you, anything you need, and I'll get it. If you kill him, I'll be there next to you, if you don't, I'll be there. I promise I'll never leave you." She kissed his forehead, her tears wetting his raven hair and settled back down on the floor, smiling and squeezing his hand. Harry's eyes shone with love and admiration.  
  
"Thank you." He choked, squeezing back. Buffy nodded and they lay on Buffy's bed, holding each other until they fell asleep.  
  
Please review! 


End file.
